


Penny Jackson and the Sun God

by tracylay



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Crossover, F/M, Technically Incest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-18
Updated: 2015-03-27
Packaged: 2018-03-02 01:13:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 45,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2794361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tracylay/pseuds/tracylay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Penny Jackson was always normal (well, as normal as you can with ADHD and dyslexia). Then she suddenly gets a letter from out of NOWHERE and a man in purple robes shows up in her home. Then he RUDELY calls her a witch. It wasn't meant to be rude? Oh. Now she's off to Hogwarts, and she can't help but note that beautiful, handsome, strange man.</p><p>Eventual Apollo x Penny Jackson (OC)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. You're A Witch

**Author's Note:**

>  
> 
> **  
> _“I… uh… I mean… Well, actually, yeah. That’s rude.”_  
> **  
> 

I frowned as I looked at the pages of my summer homework. The words just floated off the page, and I couldn’t concentrate at all.

It was then at that moment, something came flying through my window. My ADHD kicked in and I jumped out of my seat, landing on my floor with a thud before rolling into a defensive position.

I heard hurried footsteps rush to my room, and my door was thrown open by my older twin brother, Percy. “Penny!” he exclaimed. “Are you okay?!”

“Oh, dear,” my mom said, rushing over to me. She helped me stand up and brushed the non-existent dirt off of my clothes. “What happened?”

“I… I was just trying to do homework,” I worked out in my head, mind reeling a thousand miles per minute. “Then something went flying towards me through the window so I ducked.”

Percy walked over to my desk and looked at whatever landed on there. “Hey… there’s a letter to her,” he commented, picking up a small, rectangular envelope.

He handed it to my mom, who looked at it for a second before handing it over to me. I blinked and looked at what was addressed to me, and for some odd reason, I could understand it.

_Miss P. Jackson_  
 _Third Bedroom on the Left_  
 _20798 52nd Street  
_ _Manhattan, New York, USA_

I looked at the envelope wearily, then at my mother and brother. “... It’s not gonna explode, is it?” I asked cautiously.

Mom opened her mouth to say something, but she was cut off by a knocking on the door. She got up, kissed both of us on the forehead, before walking out the room to answer whoever was on the other side.

“You probably have a stalker,” Percy said, glancing out the window. He walked over to it quickly and closed it, shutting the curtains in the process.

I frowned. “That doesn’t sound pleasing.”

_“Percy! Penny! Could you both come out here, please?”_ my mom called from the living room. Her voice was a bit shaky, so Percy and I quickly got up to go check her out.

As we got to the living room, I spotted a tall, thin man with long silver hair and an equally long beard, with spectacles that rested on a slightly crooked nose and framed sparkling, blue eyes. He was wearing a set of purple robes, which was really weird, considering it was _summer_ in _Manhattan_.

“Hello, Perseus, Penelope,” the man greeted us kindly. He spotted the letter in my hand and said, “Ah, I see you’ve gotten your letter. Would you be so kind and read it?”

“It might explode, though,” I said bluntly, looking at the man. “Who are you?”

“Professor Albus Dumbledore,” the man greeted us.

Percy hid a laugh behind his fist and I elbowed him. “Ow,” my brother groaned.

“Professor of what, exactly?” I interrogated. “What are you doing here?”

“Many of your questions will be answered in the letter,” Dumbledore said, gesturing to the letter. “If you would be so kind, Miss Jackson.”

I looked at the old man and said, “I can’t read. I’m dyslexic."

“I believe you’ll find this letter simple to read,” Dumbledore replied, and gestured to the letter again. I turned to my mother, who nodded at me encouragingly. I nodded back before exhaling deeply and opening the envelope.

When the words didn’t float off the page, I realized I could understand it just perfectly:

 

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL  
_ _of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_  

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore  
 _(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwurmp, International Confed. of Wizards)_  

Dear Miss Jackson,

            We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

            Term begins on September 1. We await you owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,  
Minerva McGonagall,  
 _Deputy Headmistress_  

“Hogwarts?” Percy echoed first. “What in the Hades is Hogwarts?”

“It is a school that teaches young wizards and witches of witchcraft and wizardry. In other words, Miss Penelope Jackson,” he said, turning to me with twinkling eyes, “you’re a witch.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I said the first thing that popped into my head, “That’s not a really nice thing to call someone.” _Dammit._ “I… uh… I mean… Well, actually, yeah. That’s rude.”

Dumbledore chuckled before saying, “My apologies, but in my world, witches and wizards are very common. It is not a derogatory term of any means.”

“But, I’m not a witch,” I said cautiously, looking at Dumbledore. “I’m just Penny.”

“Well, Penny, have strange things ever happened to you? Besides in water?” Dumbledore inquired. “When you feel intense emotions?”

“The kitchen exploded all on its own!” I countered back. “I didn’t do anything!”

“Yes,” Dumbledore nodded. “Exactly. That was magic.”

I blinked. “So I’m a witch?” Dumbledore nodded. “Cool,” I accepted. Hey, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. “So… what do I do now?”

Dumbledore smiled patiently. He gave Mom a bag and my mother opened it. “Ash?” she inquired.

“That is Floo Powder,” Dumbledore informed. “Before September the first, please go to Diagon Alley. You simply take a handful of that powder, and state very clearly where you want to go. In your case, it would be _Diagon Alley_. I believe there is a shopping list as well as instructions written in there.”

“Can I come too?” Percy asked eagerly. “Well, do Diagon Alley at least, since I’m obviously not a wizard.” He turned to me, “Man, you’re lucky.”

“Of course,” Dumbledore nodded his head. “But this is a secret. You must not let anyone outside your family know your sister is a witch. It could compromise the magical world and throw the world in an upset of balance. We wouldn’t want that to happen, now would we?”

Percy shook his head. “No, we wouldn’t.”

Dumbledore smiled again. Man, does he ever stop. “Well, Penelope, I look forward to seeing you on your first day of Hogwarts. Have a good day.” And right before our very eyes, he vanished.

Silence filled the room, and it made me very jittery, like it always did.

“That really happened, right?” Percy inquired.

“Yes, Percy,” Mom said slowly. “It did.”

“That’s so _cool_!” Percy exclaimed, hugging me. “My sister’s a _witch_!” He turned to Mom, “Mom! Penny’s a _witch_! She’ll probably learn to fly on a broom and everything!” That made my mother crack a smile and she hugged us both.

“We’ll go to Diagon Alley in August,” my mother informed us. “Gabe will be working that whole day and I’ll take a day off.”

**POSEIDON**

“Looks like your daughter’s a witch,” Hermes commented from beside me.

“So she is,” I agreed, nodding my head. As a demigod _and_ a witch, I’m afraid Penny would be in much more danger, even more so because she is my daughter.

“You don’t know how much,” Apollo commented, walking over and joining us. He let out a low whistle at the image before us.

“She is eleven, Apollo,” I turned to my nephew, who just shrugged. I shook my head. _Gods. Can’t just keep it in their pants._ Well, that was rather hypocritical of me, but regardless.

“No harm in looking,” Apollo countered. He chuckled again before it abruptly stopped. His eyes glazed over and he stared into nothingness, his eyes glowing a faint white. It was no more than a few seconds before he shook his head, clearing his thoughts.

“Another prophecy?” Hermes inquired. “Which being is it this time?”

Apollo slowly turned his head, to glance at Penny. “Her.”

Dread filled through me. “My daughter?” I double-checked.

Apollo nodded. “And me.”

“What was it?” I demanded.

_“Daughter of the Sea, born as one in two’s world,_  
 _Lord of the Light, to her he will be hurled,_  
 _She will stop a darkness that will arise,  
_ _And discover what she will find in the skies.”_

“Skies?” Hermes cocked his head. “I think Zeus will shoot her down before she even gets a chance.” I glared at him. “Sorry


	2. Diagon Alley

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **_Great. I’m dyslexic, have ADHD, and have a speech disorder now._ **

" _Oof_!"

Before I could get up, I heard a  _whoosh_. My face hit the floor again and I groaned in pain as my nose twitched irritably. My back was straining from being crushed. "Percy…" I groaned out. My brother gave a short grunt.

I wiggled under my brother as his immense weight crushed me. "Get… off me."

There was another  _whoosh_  and then a gasp. "Percy, get off your sister!"

Percy pushed himself off of me and my mother helped me up, brushing off the dirt that has gotten on me. "Oh, dear. You're not even away yet," she said mostly to herself than me. "I wonder if you'll be okay."

"Mom, I'll be fine," I sighed as she continued to fuss over me. "You okay there, Perce?" I asked, peering to my twin, rubbing my throbbing nose.

"A-okay," Percy replied, brushing his pants. "Sorry about that."

"No prob," I brushed it off and my mom looked at the piece of paper in front of her. "So, where to first?"

"First, we're getting your robes," Mom informed me. "Dumbledore stopped by while you two were out a couple days ago to give us money." She showed us a small bag of various coins that were gold, silver, and bronze. "Come on."

We walked out of the alleyway, and  _wow_. I think I spun around five times to take everything in. It was all just so  _amazing_.

I saw a few owls flying around, some cauldrons outside stores, and people with robes walking  _everywhere_. It was packed; it was like Times Square during the holidays, minus the drunk people.

I was jittery with excitement… and maybe my ADHD, but  _wow_. I couldn't really understand what most signs said, but it didn't matter to me. I thought it was amazing, and that's all that really matters.

"I'm so jealous," Percy sighed in awe. "Make sure you don't forget us regular humans, alright, sis?"

"Never," I assured, looking at my brother. We both shared a meaningful smile that we had towards each other.

"Percy, Penny, come on!" our mother called, and we jogged after her. She led us into a store; I tried to read what store we entered, but all I saw was mdaaM 'slMaik bRsoe orf lAl cinosOac.

"Hogwarts for two?" a short, kind-looking woman smiled at us both.

"No, just my daughter," Mom said, pushing me forward slightly. I stumbled a bit over my feet, but I managed to keep myself up-right. I steadied myself and stood awkwardly in front of the woman.

The woman smiled, "Muggles, are you?"

"E-excuse me?" Mom inquired, confused. She was right to be confused. My mother did  _not_  smoke marijuana.  **[1]**

"Oh!" the woman laughed. "I forgot. Muggles are what we call non-magic folk. I'm Madam Malkin, and I own this wonderful little place."

"Yes, we're… Muggles," Mom struggled to use the word. It was a weird word, understandable.

"Wonderful!" Madam Malkin chirped happily. "Come to the back with me, dear. She'll be out soon," she addressed the last part to my mother and brother.

I walked to the back where I spotted a boy who looked a few years older than me, with bright red hair and freckles. Pins and needles were flying around him as he just stood still for the fitting. Aw man, do we have to stand still?

"We have to stand still?" I choked out, turning to Madam Malkin.

"Why, yes," Madam Malkin nodded her head. "It won't take very long if you do." I sighed mentally in my head.  _Please_ , let me stay still for at  _least_  five minutes. I climbed onto the stool and immediately, a black cloth surrounded me and began its work.

…I didn't even last a minute.

"Dear, stand still," Madam Malkin scolded me, lightly tapping my shoulder with her wand.

"I can't help it," I replied. "I have ADHD."

"What in Godric's name is  _that_?" the redhead boy next to me inquired, turning to me. "Is that some sort of curse?"

"It's a disorder," I sighed, fidgeting yet again, earning another light slap from Madam Malkin. "I can't be still and I have a short attention span. … Which is part of the reason I've been expelled from every school I've been to, so far," I admitted.

The redhead's nose wrinkled in distaste before nodding his head and looking away from me. Madam Malkin declared he was done and he walked away with a short thank you.

"What's your name, dear?"

"Penny Jackson," I replied. "It's actually a nickname, but so's my brother's name. Perseus and Penelope are too long, so we just go by Percy and Penny. No one ever calls us by our full name though. Well, except my mom when she's mad at us, but she normally doesn't get mad at us. She's the best. It's pretty hard for her to raise my brother and me. We always get expelled from the schools we attend because we're always blamed for stuff we never really do."

"No father?"

"Mom said he had to leave," I told her, frowning. "I think he left us, though, so Percy and I have never pushed her to tell us."

"I'm sorry, dear," Madam Malkin looked at me sympathetically. "Your robes are done, dear."

I looked down, and indeed, they were. I blinked and Madam Malkin helped me take off the robes before leading me out of the back room.

I spotted my mother talking with a couple with red hair, but Percy was no where to be found.

"Mom!" I said, walking over to her. "Look!" I showed her my black robes. "I got robes!"

My mother smiled and gestured to me, "This is my daughter, Penny. She'll be starting her first year at Hogwarts. Dear, this is Mr. and Mrs. Weasley."

"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley," I greeted. I continued to look around for my brother, "Where's Percy?"

"He couldn't stand waiting so he went out to take a walk," my mother explained. She turned to the Weasleys and said, "Percy is my son and Penny's twin brother."

"How interesting," Mr. Weasley mused. "We have a son named Percy, as well. He's starting his fifth year though."

"We do have a son that's starting his first year though," Mrs. Weasley said, looking at me. "His name is Ron."

I didn't know what to say, so I just blurted out, "Cool."

"I'm back, what'd I miss?" Percy's voice came, walking over to us.

"Perce!" I whirled around to my brother. "Look!"

"Cool," Percy said, touching the black fabric. "So how'd it go?" He looked at me curiously with his sea green eyes that were the same exact shade of mine.

"It was really weird," I told him honestly. "I was on this footstool and then this black cloth surrounded me and pins and needles started floating towards me. I had to stand still."

"Oh, I forgot to tell Madam Malkin you had ADHD," Mom looked down at me. "Did you give her a hard time?"

"What is this ADHD?" Mr. Weasley asked with a fascinated look in his eyes. Well, that was a new one.

My mother rested her hands on our shoulders before explaining, "It's an attention disorder. They can't sit still for long. That's why Percy had to leave and take a walk."

"Fascinating," Mr. Weasley stated truthfully. "Isn't is, Molly?" He turned to his wife. "ADHD."

"I saw this owl place during my walk," Percy informed me. "The list said you could have an owl, right?" I nodded. "We should get you an owl."

"One at a time, Percy," Mom said lightly. "You'd think  _you_  were the one going to school, not Penny." She smiled at the Weasleys and said, "It was a pleasure to meet you both, but we have to get going."

"Oh, yes," Mr. Weasley nodded his head. "We have to find our children. Have a nice day," he tilted his hat towards the three of us before leaving with Mrs. Weasley.

We went to pay for my robes and Mom apologized to Madam Malkin, who just waved it off with a smile.

Mom led us to a bookstore and began to buy our textbooks, which I found was rather lame. My mother smiled at me and walked over to the counter to pay, asking the witch there something.

The witch nodded, pulled out her wand, and tapped my set of books. My mother paid for them and then walked back to us. "Can you read this?" she inquired, showing me the book.

I blinked in surprise when I could clearly read the title of the book,  _A History of Magic_ , without a single problem. I flipped through the pages, and for once, the words didn't float off the page. Talk about cool.

"Whoa…" I gaped. Magic was awesome. Mom smiled before taking the book, placing it back in the bag she was holding.

"Now, let's go get that owl of yours," Mom declared. Percy jumped up and led us to a store that was called pEylseo Olw muEimrop.

On the way, I bumped into a wall and bounced back slightly. It wasn't until I looked up did I realize I bumped into a taller, older boy.

I blushed at the way the light hit his sunglow hair and his sky blue eyes sparkled back at me in amusement.

He looked around to be eighteen or nineteen, dressed casually in a tight white t-shirt that hugged his chest nicely, loose light jeans, and a pair of old black Converse. "Whoa, there," he said steadying me before I could fall back.

"I- uh, I'm, uh, dah, er…" I stammered stupidly.  _Great_. I'm dyslexic, have ADHD,  _and_  have a speech disorder now. I took a shaky breath and exhaled deeply, "I'm sorry."

His lips curled up to reveal his pearly white teeth. He laughed and my heart fluttered at the musical sound he produced. "It's alright," he told me, his voice silky smooth. "It was my fault. As an apology, take this." He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a…  _pen_? "Only open it when you most need it."

"Um… thank you?" I didn't know what to say. I took the pen, seeing his long fingers release the utensil as I grabbed it, looking at it curiously. It was just like any old ballpoint pen, except it had an engraving on the side,  _Thyella_.  _'Tempest,'_  my mind somehow read.

"You're welcome. Good luck, Penelope Jackson," the guy said from above me.

My head snapped up at my full name, but the boy was gone. "Where'd he go?" I asked myself, spinning around in a circle to find any trace of the blond. I shook my head when I found nothing and walked into the store, where Percy was eagerly looking around at all the different kinds of owls inside.

" _My lady! My lady, over here!"_  I blinked at the sound and turned my head, searching for the voice.  _"Over here!"_

I looked around before they landed on black orbs staring right back at me. My eyes darted around the being to see reddish-brown feathers with a large, round head.

" _Are you_ talking _to me?"_  I asked her. Well, judging by the sound of the voice, it was female.

" _Are you talking to_ me _?"_  she countered back.

I snorted.  _"Touché."_  I walked over to her and stuck my finger through the cage. The owl reached forward and began to lightly peck at my finger affectionately.

I looked down to see what type of owl it was, but could only read s'Ple Fngihsi wOl. "Mom?" I called, still playing with the owl. "What kind of owl is this?"

"It's a Pel's Fishing Owl," Mom informed me. "Do you like it?"

Percy appeared at my side, asking, "You gonna get this owl?"

The owl looked back at me, almost like she tried to give me the puppy-dog look.  _What_? I looked at Mom, and gave her the best pleading look I could.

Mom smiled and said, "Of course." She bent down to kiss my forehead and I took the cage. The owl hooted in happiness, fluttering her wings in the cage before settling back down on her faux perch. We walked over to the owner and Mom paid for her.

"What're you gonna name it?" Percy asked as we exited the store. "Wait, is it a boy or a girl?"

"I'm thinking it's a girl," I told him. "I keep hearing this female voice in my head, like the owl's talking to me."

" _That's me!"_  the owl said in my head.  _"What are you going to name me, my lady?"_

"Hm…"I mused. "How about… Sofia? It means wisdom in Greek," I asked, looking at the owl. Whoa. How'd I know that meant  _wisdom_?

"When did you learn  _Greek_?" Percy asked me. "And how come  _I_  knew that, too?" Percy and I exchanged looks before shrugging our shoulders. It must've been something we picked up on TV without really knowing. Who said TV didn't teach you anything?

"Hm, we'll want to go to Ollivanders for your wand, Penny," Mom told me, ushering us off the streets, away from the huge crowd of people we were surrounded by. "Let's go."

We quickly found the store, but when I entered, it looked only like a ruddy old store. A noise made me jump and I whirled around, to see an old man with razzled white hair looking patiently at me. "Ah, Miss Jackson," he greeted me casually, like he's known me for a long time instead of just two seconds. "Dumbledore said you'd be arriving. I've already picked out a couple of wands for you to try."

I blinked and walked to the counter, where about four wands were placed in four separate boxes. I looked at who I assumed was Ollivander, and he nodded at the wands, telling me to try one out.

I picked the one up on the far left and Ollivander explained, "12 inches, oak, with unicorn hair as its core. Very flexible. Give it a wave."

I waved the stick, and my eyes widened in shock when an invisible force shoved off three books on a nearby table, making them crash onto the floor. I quickly put it back.

Ollivander had a bemused look on his face and inquired, "No? Try the next one."

This time, I picked up the one on the far right. I gave it a flick and my jaw dropped when the curtains set on fire. It disappeared as quickly as it appeared, though, and I saw that Ollivander has his own wand out.

I heard Percy coughing behind me, concealing laughter. I turned back to glare at my brother. He tossed me a wide grin, his eyes sparkling in amusement.  _Ugh_. He's lucky I love him so much.

I looked back at the other two wands. Aw, man. What would happen if I destroyed this place? Then I'd  _never_  get a wand and my invitation to Hogwarts would be revoked. Man, expelled before even attending. Who'd have thought that was possible?

I cautiously reached for the one on the left and frowned. I waved it, and a bolt of electricity shot out, short-circuiting the place. "Crap. I'm sorry," I apologized. Percy laughed as the lights turned back on.

"No worries, my dear. It happens. Try the last one," Ollivander encouraged me.

I frowned, and picked up the last one. I flicked it, and a gush of wind made a few shelves in the back knock to the floor. I put back the wand quickly. I could hear Percy gawfulling in the background. Mom tried to hush him, but it was futile.

"Um… does that mean I don't get my own wand?" I asked carefully. Maybe I'd just end up with no wand and as a result, not be able to attend Hogwarts.

"No, no, my dear. There are still plenty of wands to choose from," Ollivander told me cheerfully. "I have had this much of a challenge since… well,  _ever_!"

He went to the back and pulled out two boxes. His hand then hesitated before he put back the two and just grabbed that last one. He walked back and pointed this wand out to me.

"12 inches, laurel, with a pegasus hair for its core. Exceptionally rare. Very flexible and fluid," he informed me. "Give it a shot."

"I don't know," I said wearily. "I might just burn this store down and get kicked out before I even attended school. It wouldn't be the first time I got kicked out for a fire."

"I assure you that won't happen," Ollivander told me. "I have a good feeling about this wand."

I nodded before taking the wand in my hand. The second I grabbed it, I felt this power surge through me.

It felt almost like a high (not that I'd really know what it felt like), with all of this energy.

"This is it," Ollivander declared, crossing his arms, fully satisfied and proud of himself.

"How do you know?" I asked curiously, cocking my head to the side.

"You see, Miss Jackson, the  _witch_  does not choose the wand, but rather, the  _wand_  chooses the witch. And when you picked up this wand, it chose you," Ollivander explained, pointing at my Stick of Doom.

I blinked, still slightly confused, but accepted it, nonetheless. No use in arguing.

"That'll be fifteen galleons," Ollivander said to my mother.

"Wow," I exhaled. "That's... That's quite a bit of money."

"Your wand is incredibly unique, Miss Jackson. No one else in this world has this kind of wand," Ollivander assured me. "No one."

"That's fine, Penny," Mom told me. "There's more than enough in here." She walked up to Ollivander and paid him before we walked out, with me with a new wand.

I then realized something.

"Hey, Mom," I called for her attention.

"What is it, honey?" Mom looked down at me, confusion in her eyes. "Something wrong?"

"Well, y'know how I have to be on a train to actually get to school?" I inquired. Mom nodded. "How are we gonna get there if we live in Brooklyn? Do they have Floo chimney-thingies?" I mean, why would a chimney be at a  _train station_?

"Th-that's a good question," Mom realized. "Perhaps we should contact Professor Dumbledore about that…"

"Ah, it's the Jacksons!" I heard a cheerful voice exclaim. I whirled around and spotted a  _large_  group of redheads, with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley leading the way. Mr. Weasley was the one who spoke. "Did you find everything alright?"

"Oh, yes," Mom said, nodding her head. "Thank you for the shop recommendations."

"You're most welcome," Mrs. Weasley smiled. "Oh, these are our children. Percy, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny. Kids, this is Miss Jackson and her two children, Percy and Penny."

"Hello," the five echoed.

"Blimey, a name just like Prissy? How much could that suck?" one of the twins asked. I recognized Percy (Weasley) was the boy that was with me when I was having my robes fitted.

"George, stop teasing your brother," Mrs. Weasley scolded.

"Blimey, she got my name right," George said, looking at his twin. He then turned to me and flashed a grin, "George Weasley at your service. I'm in Gryffindor and I serve as one of the Beaters on the Quidditch team."

I furrowed my eyebrows, confused. "What's a Gryffindor and what's a Beater for a Quidditch team?"

There was a collective gasp from the children before Mr. Weasley said, "Now, children, Penny comes from a Muggle family." That seemed to explain everything to them.

"Do you know if there's a chimney to Floo in at King's Cross Station?" Mom asked Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. "See, we live in Brooklyn, and that's all the way in the United States. We can't really just drive to the station."

"Oh my," Mrs. Weasley commented. "I'm afraid there isn't."

"Does that mean we get to stay in London?" Percy asked, looking at Mom.

"But, Percy, I have work and then there's Gabe…" she pointed out. "We could just contact Professor Dumbledore and maybe he'll find a way to get you here," she directed the last sentence to me.

"Dumbledore's a busy man!" Mrs. Weasley told Mom. "Why don't we pick up Penny from your house and we'll Apparate back?"

"I don't want to trouble you," Mom said, shaking her head. "We'll find a way."

"Oh, nonsense!" Mrs. Weasley waved off. "It'll only take a few seconds!"

Mom looked down at me and asked, "Well, Penny? What do you think?"

I was fidgeting by now, but I had managed to keep up with the conversation.  _Score_. "Um… if that's alright with you guys."

Mr. Weasley smiled. "Perfect! We'll just Floo to your place and Apparate back then!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **[1]** Funny thing I read on Urban Dictionary. Apparently “muggle” is a colloquial term for marijuana, hahah.


	3. The Hogwarts Express

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **_"Who knows? Aeolus might be feeling a bit mischievous."_ **

"What the heck's Apparating, anyway?" Percy asked as Mom fussed over me.

I frowned. "It's a sort of teleportation. I read that you could lose a couple limbs too. I hope I don't. I'm quite attached to them. No pun intended."

Percy let out a chuckle. "Good one."

"Thanks," I grinned. "Didn't mean to come up with it." Then I frowned again. "I'll miss you, Perce."

"Aw, me too," Percy frowned, pulling me into a hug. "I dunno how I'm gonna last this year without you in school."

Just then, a rush of fire appeared in our chimney and Mr. Weasley stepped out. He looked around our house in wonder. "Ah, this is amazing!"

"Hello, Arthur," my mom greeted the man.

"Sally, Percy," Mr. Weasley smiled. Then he looked at me, "Have you gotten everything, Penny?"

"Yes, sir," I nodded, patting my trunk and lifting up my cage that held Sofia.

"Remember to write as often as you can, okay?" Mom asked me.

"Mom, you tell us that every year," I sighed. Every year, Percy and I were shipped off to a boarding school, which were the only schools that accepted us because of our ADHD and dyslexia. "I know."

"Make sure to get into as less trouble as you can, alright?"

"Yes, Mom."

"Don't blow up a bathroom," Percy joked, but held some truth in his words.

I know why. A couple years ago, Percy was being bullied in the boys' restroom, and I had rushed in to help him. I was pushed back and had hit my head rather roughly, though, and then Percy got really mad. Then all of a sudden, water just exploded everywhere and left everyone but Percy and me drenched. Needless to say, we were expelled.

I mock-saluted my brother and gave my mom and him a hug. I turned to Mr. Weasley, who was looking on in amazement at our television remote. He noticed I was ready, grabbed my trunk, and smiled. "Just hold onto my arm." He held out his arm and I took it while holding onto Sofia's cage.

Everything suddenly went back, and I felt like I was on an extreme roller coaster ride: unable to breathe, stomach lurching, body being pulled everywhere.

I ended up right in front of a bunch of redheads and would have fallen if it weren't for the fact that Mr. Weasley kept me upright.

 _"I don't feel so good,"_  Sofia groaned to me mentally.

 _"Really? I feel like sunshines and daisies,"_  I dryly responded.

"First ride's always a bit woozy," Mrs. Weasley told me. "How are you, dear?"

"I'm fine, thank you," I responded.

"Well, I better be getting off to work," Mr. Weasley said. He bent down to peck his wife on the cheek before wishing us good luck and disappearing with a  _pop_.

Mrs. Weasley took Ginny's hand before we entered the train station. "Alright, let's get moving."

I followed her into the station and wondered what was so magical about it. George handed me a cart and I took it with a thanks, placing my trunk and Sofia's cage on top.

As I walked through the station, I spotted a small flash that caught my eye. I turned my head and saw the boy I had bumped into at Diagon Alley on the other side of the station.

He grinned at me and a crowd passed by him. When the crowd had finished passing him, he was gone.

"-not Fred, I'm George," I heard Fred sigh. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you  _tell_  I'm George?"

"Sorry, George, dear," Mrs. Weasley sighed.

Fred walked forward and looked at his mother. "Only joking, I am Fred," he said before running  _right through a wall_.

I gripped George's sleeve before he could walk away. "He just ran right through a wall."

"Observant eyes, you got there, Penny," George said, almost sarcastically. "How else was he going to get onto the platform?"

"George, you next!" Mrs. Weasley called.

"Hold on, Mum, I think Penny's a bit nervous," George informed, looking down at me. What if I ran straight for the wall and then totally crashed? Oh, Gods, that would hurt  _so_  much. "Penny?"

"Huh?" I snapped out of my trance, glancing up at one of the twins.

"Would you like to go first, Penny?" Mrs. Weasley asked me.

"I'll catch you if you bounce off the barrier," George joked. " _Ow_!" he cried out when Mrs. Weasley hit him in the arm. "I'm only joking, Mum!"

Mrs. Weasley turned to me and smiled patiently. "You'll be fine, dear. If you're nervous, just go for a running start."

I nodded, exhaling shakily. My body was jittery again, but I welcomed it. This was going to push me to go through the wall. Well, I never thought I'd say that.

I took a deep breath, exhaled, and my legs took off. I braced myself to hit the wall, but I only stopped when arms wrapped around my shoulders.

"Whoa, there, Penny. You'll run right into the tracks," I heard Fred's voice say. I opened one eye and spotted myself in another location. I was quite pleased to see that I wasn't a splatter on the wall.

I stood up straighter and cleared my throat. "I'm good. I'm good." It was then I noticed the giant scarlet trained that read  _Hogwarts Express_.

George entered through the wall, and helped me get my stuff on board.  _Whoa_ , it's a lot heavier lifting it than actually pushing it around.

Sofia looked at me with a disinterested look.  _"Of course it'd be a lot heavier lifting it."_

" _Don't be rude to me,"_  I countered back.  _"I'm not the best thinker around."_

" _Forgive me, My Lady, but that is true,"_  she then cooed softly. She was so cute that I had to forgive her. _Ugh. Owls._

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley!" I called, where she was fussing over Ron. She gave me a smile and wave. I turned around, walking into the train, trying to find a compartment.

I quickly found one where a boy with messy black hair and brilliant green eyes hidden behind dirty glasses was sitting all by himself. "Hi!" I greeted, smiling at him.

"Um, hi," he greeted me, unsure.

"I'm Penny Jackson," I introduced myself. "You mind if I sit here?"

"No, not at all," the boy shook his head. "I'm Harry Potter."

"Nice to meet you, Harry," I said politely, walking into the compartment. I took a seat across from him.

Harry furrowed his eyebrows. "Your accent is strange."

"I'm American," I informed him. "Brooklyn, New York, actually."

The door to the compartment slid open, and I angled my head to see who it was. Ron was standing there, looking sheepish. "Anyone sitting there?" he pointed at the seat next to me. "Everywhere else is full."

"Hi, Ron," I greeted. Ron smiled at me and sat down, slightly hesitant.

The door slid open again and the twins poked their heads in. "Hey, Ron." Then they noticed me, "Hey, Penny." I nodded at them. They then looked back at Ron, "Listen, we're going down the middle of the train - Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."

"Right," Ron mumbled.

"Harry," Fred said, grinning mischievously. "Did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. Penny's an honorary Weasley. See you later, then."

"Bye," all three of us echoed before the door was shut close again.

"Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron blurted out. I was wondering what the big deal was. Does the magical world have Google? I have to look him up. When I was able to focus again, I saw Harry pull up his bangs to reveal a lightning-shaped scar.

"So that's where You-Know Who - ?" No. I don't know who You-Know-Who is, thank you very much. Who was he?

"Who's You-Know-Who?" I cocked my head to the side. "And why are you famous?" I looked at Harry. Well, that didn't sound rude at all. Nope.

Ron looked at me, shocked beyond belief.

Harry explained that it was this dude name Voldemort - Ron flinched at the name - and he was this evil wizard that basically ruled the world in darkness but he was finally defeated by Harry - for reasons unknown.

"Oh. Okay," I didn't know what to say, again.  _Jeez_. I was well-deserving of those  _F_ s I got.

"Are all your family wizards?" Harry asked us curiously.

"Er - yes, I think so," Ron answered. "I think Mum's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about it."

I shook my head. "The bomb was just dropped on me about a month ago."

"Why would they drop a bomb on you?" Ron asked, eyes wide in shock. "Did something happen?"

"It's a figure of speech," I explained. "It just means I was told I was a witch out of nowhere."

"Oh," Ron nodded his head.

"So you're the only one that must know loads of magic already," Harry concluded, looking at the redhead.

Ron shrugged before saying, "I heard you went to live with Muggles. What are they like?"

"Horrible," Harry replied, his face scrunching up in distaste. "Well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though. Your family?"

"My mom and brother are great," I replied. Man, I wouldn't know what to do if I didn't have any family supporting me. At that, I frowned a bit. "But man, you have three wizard brothers," I looked at Ron.

"Five," he corrected, his face falling a bit. "I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left - Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's not big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat."

He pulled out a rat from his robes and introduced him as Scabbers. He stopped himself from saying that the family couldn't afford an owl, but it didn't really matter.

Yeah, my family wasn't poorest around, but we weren't exactly rolling in the dough either. When Harry informed Ron that he had hand-me-downs from his cousin, that seemed to cheer him up a bit.

Speaking of which, I pulled out my little bag of money. How did we even  _get_  all this money?

I was pulled out of my thoughts when a woman rolled a trolley up to our door after sliding it open. "Anything off the cart, dears?"

Oh  _good_. I'm  _starving_. I got to my feet and looked at the wide variety of treats that were there. Harry stood up next to me and we looked at what was available to us:

Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron cakes, Licorice Wands, and a lot of other weird things I've never heard about.

I didn't know what to get, so I just got one of each.

Harry and I shared with Ron, who didn't take very long to convince, and we snacked through everything easily. The frog jumped out before I could eat it though. Damn.

When I tried the jelly beans, I got a seaweed flavor, which wasn't all that bad, but the next one I got resembled  _tires_. Ew. I made a mental note to ship a box to Percy, just 'cause.

We were interrupted by a little round-faced boy, who looked incredibly shy and about to pee his pants. "Sorry, but have you seen a toad at all?" When we shook our heads negatively, he cried out, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"

"He'll turn up," Harry reassured.

The boy nodded reluctantly before walking away.

"I dunno why he's so bothered," Ron shrugged. "If I brought a toad, I'd try to lose it as quick as I could. But then again, I did bring Scabbers. He might've died and you wouldn't have known."

"Oh, you'd know," I interjected. Harry and Ron looked at me strangely. I shrugged. "I live in Brooklyn." They didn't understand what I meant and I just sighed. "It's not the cleanest place in the world." That seemed to satisfy them, and Ron told us of a spell he was trying out.

Impressed, I urged him to show us. He pulled out a wand from his trunk and he mumbled something about unicorn hair poking out.

He was about to raise his wand when the door slid open, this time, the toadless boy was with a girl with bushy brown hair and large front teeth.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," the girl asked in a bossy tone. Even in the Wizarding World, there were  _those_  kinds of girls. I mentally sighed and tried my best to blend in with the seat.

"We already told him we haven't seen it," Ron countered, but it looked like it went in one ear and out the other to the girl.

"Oh? You're doing magic? Let's see it, then." She took a seat next to Harry, and Ron looked shocked.

"Er… alright, then." He cleared his throat and then said, " _Sunshine daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow._ " He waved his wand towards the sleeping rat, but nothing happen.

"Are you sure that's a  _real_  spell?" the girl asked haughtily. She didn't wait for a response. "Well, it's not a very good one, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and they've all worked for me. Nobody in my family's-"

And here was where I tuned her out.

I looked up at the ceiling, tapping my foot on the floor while my fingers were dancing on my knees. I should probably get up and walk around. I felt someone nudge me and shook my head, refocusing and glanced back down.

Four pairs of eyes were looking at me.

"What?" I asked.

"You name?" the girl asked. "I'm Hermione Granger, if you were paying attention."

"Penny Jackson," I replied. I then stood up as a surge of uneasiness filled through me. "Excuse me. I need to go take a small walk."

On my way to get some fresh air, I almost ran into a boy with platinum blond hair and grey eyes with sharp features.

"Sorry," I apologized.

He looked at me, observing me for a few seconds before saying, "It's alright. This is Crabbe and this is Goyle. And I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

The way he introduced himself reminded me of James Bond.  _Ha_. "Penny Jackson," I said before walking around him and opening the back door. The wind immediately hit me, blowing my hair everywhere.

I took a deep breath and relished in the air. We were near water; I could smell it. Water was something I always liked. It was the one place where I felt at ease.

"You sure it's wise to be out here with all this wind with a speeding train going?" a silky voice interrupted my peace.

I whirled around, recognizing the voice, and just as I expected, the boy that I had run into at Diagon Alley and seen again at the station was leaning casually against the train, looking at me with patient sky blue eyes.

"It's not like some force is going to push me off," I rolled my eyes.

He grinned and shrugged. "Who knows? Aeolus might be feeling a bit mischievous." Unlike my brother, I was actually decent with Greek names, and it was actually my best subject. I got a B- in Greek. My only B, but whatever. I recognized the name as the God of the Winds.

"They're just myths," I shrugged. I faintly heard thunder boom in the distance and looked up, but saw clear skies.  _What?_

The boy in front of me grinned in amusement. "You'd better be careful what you call myths."

I narrowed my eyes, looking at him strangely. "Who are you?"

"I'm known as a lot of things," he told me cryptically. "You really should get out of the open, though." He looked off in the distance, and I followed his gaze. "You could go change. You're almost at Hogwarts." The sun was almost fully set.

When I turned my gaze back at him, he was gone. Just like that.

I blinked, shook my head, and walked back inside the train. Whoever he was, he was right. I walked back to the compartment, to hear Hermione scolding Ron and Harry. She saw that I wasn't changed either, and scolded me as well.  _Jeez_.

I waited for the boys to finish changing before they left so I could change. It didn't even take that long to change. The second I opened the door, there was an announcement.

" _We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."_

My stomach lurched in anticipation and soon, the train came to a complete stop. I gave Sofia a goodbye before leaving with Ron and Harry.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" I heard a  _huge_  man say. And when I say  _huge_ , I mean like over  _ten feet tall_  huge. Harry greeted him easily as Hagrid.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid told us all. "It's jus' round this bend here."

We walked through a small path, and I suddenly spotted a  _huge_  great, black lake. It was beautiful. There was a large castle with a bunch of towers on a high mountain, but I was mainly interested in the huge body of water that surrounded it.  _Amazing_.

"No more'n five to a boat!" Hagrid called, gesturing to a small fleet of boats. I went with Harry, Ron, Neville, and Hermione to a boat, and climbed in eagerly.

As the boats moved off, I reached down and my fingers danced over the gentle water and I closed my eyes in content. I spotted something jump out of the water in the distance, and saw it was a mermaid. It looked liked she was smiling at me. I gave a small smile and that satisfied her as she dived underwater and didn't reappear again.

I could feel the movement under the water, since my fingers were underneath the water.

"You  _do_  know there's a giant squid under there, right?" Hermione asked me. "What if it whisked you away?"

"I somehow doubt it'll do that to me," I said, feeling something brush beneath my fingers. It slipped easily between my fingers and I gripped it in greeting before it disappeared again. I smiled softly. "Water and I get along very well."

We climbed out of the boats, and I was sad to leave the water, even though I wasn't in it. I looked up, just in time to see Hagrid knock loudly on the castle door.


	4. Welcome to Hogwarts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **_I was not at all smart or witty._ **

When the doors swung open, I saw a tall, black-haired woman dressed in emerald robes standing there. She had a very stern face and made a mental note to not make her mad ( _too much_ , because it was impossible for me to  _not_  tick off teachers with my ADHD and dyslexia).

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid said to the woman.

"Thank you, Hagrid," she said, nodding. "I will take them from here."

I followed the woman, along with everyone else, into the castle and its  _entrance hall_  was amazing. Whoa. She led us down the hallway before whirling around and talking to us.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," she greeted us. She said something about a banquet, various Houses, and Sorting Ceremony, and I did my best to keep up with her, but I was getting jittery again. She seemed to notice and looked at me before I did my best to stand still. I was able to for three seconds before I began to fidget again. McGonagall walked away, and I continued to fidget.

"Could you please stand still?" Hermione scolded me.

"I can't," I said.

"Can't or won't?"

"I  _really_  can't," I told her. "If I stand or sit somewhere too long without doing anything, my body just starts to move."

"Do you have ADHD or something?" Hermione asked me.

"Actually, I do," I refuted. I heard screams all of a sudden and whirled around, only to see white, transparent beings flying around. Ghosts?

A ghost in ruff and tights flew right into my face. He looked at me for a few seconds before blowing a raspberry right in my face and flying away.  _Great_ , even  _ghosts_  didn't like me.

"Don't mind Peeves," a fat little monk ghost smiled at me. "He does that to everyone." Really? I don't see him going up in faces of the others and blowing his transparent spit at them.

Professor McGonagall came back and ordered us to get into a line. I stood behind Ron and in front of Hermione. She led us through a large pair of double doors and I glanced up at the ceiling, which had thousands of candles floating in the air, with the night sky above.

There were four long tables where the other students were sitting, and then another table at the top of the hall with the teachers. She led us up to where the teachers were sitting and Hermione leaned over to whisper to me.

"It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in  _Hogwarts: A History_."

"I did, too," I replied. It was part of the little bit of reading I actually got done.

I watched in silence as Professor McGonagall placed a four-legged stool in front of us. There was a hat on top of it, and it looked  _really_  dirty. I blinked in surprise when I saw the hat twitch, then move, and then… sing:

_Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,  
_ _But don't judge on what you see,  
_ _I'll eat myself if you can find  
_ _A smarter hat than me.  
_ _You can keep your bowlers black,  
_ _Your top hats sleek and tall,  
_ _For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
_ _And I can cap them all.  
_ _There's nothing hidden in your head  
_ _The Sorting Hat can't see,  
_ _So try me on and I will tell you  
_ _Where you ought to be.  
_ _You might belong in Gryffindor,  
_ _Where dwell the brave at heart,  
_ _Their daring, nerve, and chivalry  
_ _Set Gryffindors apart;  
_ _You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
_ _Where they are just and loyal,  
_ _Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
_ _And unafraid of toil;  
_ _Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
_ _If you've a ready mind,  
_ _Where those of wit and learning,  
_ _Will always find their kind;  
_ _Or perhaps in Slytherin  
_ _You'll make your real friends,  
_ _Those cunning folk use any means  
_ _To achieve their ends.  
_ _So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
_ _And don't get in a flap!  
_ _You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
_ _For I'm a Thinking Cap!_

The hat finished its song and I clapped, along with everyone else in the room. Well, there was no chance I'd be in Ravenclaw, or even Slytherin. I was not at all smart or witty.

Professor McGonagall stepped forward with a long piece of parchment. "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted. Abbott, Hannah!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

I tuned everyone out, focusing on my feet since I didn't recognize anyone's name.

"Granger, Hermione!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Jackson, Penelope!"

I heaved a heavy sigh and walked up to the stool, glad to move, if not for just a little bit.

"Hm…" a small voice said into my head. "Very interesting. The Daughter of the Sea… Yes… I know just where to place you…"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The hat was pulled off of my hat as a table erupted into cheers. I walked towards it, but something bothered me. What did the hat mean when I was "The Daughter of the Sea"? I sat down next to Hermione after shaking Percy's hand.

My head was hurting from thinking so hard.

Something told me to look up, so I did. When I glanced up, I spotted something in the shadows. The figure moved just so I could see it was a young girl, no older than twelve, with auburn hair and eyes that reminded me of the moon.

I blinked, and she was gone. I rubbed my eyes. This was  _really_  weird. The table cheered again, but this time it was deafeningly loud. I noticed the Weasley twins were jumping around, crying, "We got Potter! We got Potter!"

Ron was placed in Gryffindor as well, and Dumbledore stood up. He smiled at us and declared, "Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

… What?

I was utterly confused as people started applauding him.

I then noticed that the plates in front of us were now  _piled_  with food. My stomach growled at the sight of everything.  _Yes_.

I piled some food onto my plate and happily dug in. I conversed with some of my Housemates about everything and nothing in particular. It wasn't until Seamus Finnigan told us, "I'm half-and-half. Me dad's a Muggle. Mum didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him."

The entire table laughed and then Neville said he was a pure-blood but they thought he was a Squib until he showed his magical abilities.

"What about you, Penny?" Neville asked.

"I think I'm the first in a family of Muggles," I replied. "My mom and twin brother are Muggles, and I don't know about my dad. He left when I was young. All I remember is a warm light from when he touched me…"

The table looked at me sympathetically, but I just shrugged. I've learned to accept it. Yeah, it hurt that my dad didn't want us, but what's the past is the past.

After singing our school song, which was pretty funny, it was time to go.

Percy led us out of the Great Hall and up some stairs and doorways. How  _long_  was it going to take before we reached our room?

I felt something flying my way and ducked quickly, causing Percy to yell out, "Peeves!" He turned to us and informed, "A poltergeist. Peeves, show yourself!"

There was nothing but a sound that sounded like air being squeezed out of a balloon.

"Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?" Percy threatened.

The same ghost that was in my face earlier popped out of nowhere and cackled at me. "Ickle Firsties! I'm just greeting my cousin!" He swooped down at us and we all ducked.

"Go away, Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this," Percy warned. "I mean it!"

Peeves blew a raspberry at Percy and disappeared, but not before dropping the walking sticks. I jumped out of the way on pure instinct as they landed where I was a second ago.

"Sorry about that," Percy apologized. "You want to watch out for Peeves. The Blood Baron's the only one who can control him. He won't even listen to us prefects. Here we are."

He led us down a corridor, and there was a portrait of a fat lady in a pink dress. "Password?" she asked.

"Caput Draconis," Percy gave, and the portrait swung forward, revealing a round hole. He led us inside an Percy informed us where our dormitory was.

Exhausted, I climbed up the stairs where my dorms were and found Sofia in her cage. She hooted happily when she saw me,  _"My Lady!"_

I gave her a smile and stroked her head before taking a look around my room. There were five four-poster beds that had deep red, velvet curtains and five separate desks. The room was decorated in a lovely shade of scarlet and gold, showing the pride of the House.

I spotted my stuff at the foot of a bed, and since I was lazy, I just decided to leave them there and claim that bed. It was the one closest to the bathroom and window, and the farthest from the entrance of the room.

I walked over to the desk that was beside there, pulled out a parchment, and began to write to my mother and brother about my day.

The next day came too quickly, and I woke up to the sound of my roommates, Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil, and Fay Dunbar, arguing who got the restroom first. Hermione was simply reading on her bed.

I heaved out a sigh and since they were arguing, decided to take it. I entered the bathroom, closing the door behind me. I heard three muffled,  _"Hey!"_ s, but was too lazy to care.

I quickly got ready for the day, and was out in fifteen minutes. My roommates glared at me, but I just shrugged. I skipped down the spiral staircase, and headed to the Great Hall.

"Ah, Miss Jackson," Professor McGonagall greeted me. "Here is your schedule." She handed me a parchment. "I trust you can read it?"

"I hope so," I responded, and looked down. When I looked down, I was pleased to see that I could read my timetable just fine. "I can," I nodded in affirmation.

Professor McGonagall nodded her head and then walked away, handing out schedules to other Gryffindors who had just entered the Great Hall.

I was looking at my schedule, when I noticed a tuff of blond hair from the corner of my eye. I glanced up, and saw the back of a tall, blond male that reminded me of someone I've been seeing lately.

I jogged over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. When he whirled around, though, I saw that even though he looked almost like the guy I've been seeing, he wasn't. His eyes were a light sky blue, not as deep, and his nose was slightly crooked. He was also a bit younger than the guy, with some baby fat still in tact. His voice wasn't as deep either, though it was still musical.

"Um… Do I know you?" he asked me, confused.

"Sorry," I apologized. "I just… I just thought you were someone I've been seeing lately."

He nodded his head, but then stopped mid-nod when he noticed my schedule. "Are you dyslexic?" he asked.

"Yeah," I admitted.

"Do you have ADHD, too?" he inquired.

I blinked. "Yeah," I told him. "How'd you know?"

He looked at me a few seconds longer, probing my eyes for something. "Lucky guess," he finally answered. "I'm Aristo Solander." He stuck out his hand.

"Penny Jackson," I introduced myself, shaking his hand. "I'm sorry, again."

"It's no problem," he smiled at me, and his eyes started twinkling. He brushed some of his sun-kissed locks out of his eyes. "So you're a first year Gryffindor." I nodded. He smiled. "Third year Hufflepuff."

"Aristo, are you harassing girls already?" a musical feminine voice questioned, almost sighing. I turned my head and spotted a girl who looked almost exactly like Aristo walking towards us with a boy with messy brown hair and grey eyes. They were both also in Hufflepuff, judging by their robes.

Aristo huffed and replied, "For your information,  _she_  came up to  _me_." He rolled his eyes and said, "Penny, meet Rhea, my annoying twin sister. That's Cedric Diggory. They're both third years. Guys, this is Penny, a first year."

Cedric gave me a kind smile while Rhea gave me one as well. It reminded me of the sun and I blurted out, "Has anyone ever told you that you smile like the sun?"

Cedric chuckled. "You don't know how often," he replied for her.

"We got it from our dad," Rhea informed me. I nodded. His dad must be pretty much the physical manifestation of the sun, then.

"Ah, Mr. Diggory, Mr. Solander, Miss Solander, here are your schedules," a plump woman with grey hair said, walking towards the Hufflepuffs. She handed the three their schedules before walking off.

"Cool," Cedric said, looking at his schedule. "Care of Magical Creatures first." He took a glance at Rhea's schedule, but then he shook his head. "I don't understand how you two can read Ancient Greek but not English. What electives are you taking?"

"Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, Art, Muggle Art, Music, and Muggle Music," the twins answered in unison.

"That's a lot of classes," I blurted. "How do you fit it all?" Aristo handed me his schedule, and I saw they had five classes a day, except for Friday, where they had four.

"You can read Ancient Greek?" Cedric asked me.

I blinked. "That's what language I've been reading in?" I asked, looking at my own schedule. Cedric peered at it and he nodded. "Oh. Cool." I've been sounding quite repetitive these past few days.

My stomach then chose that moment to growl. The three third years chuckled at the sound and I blushed. "Sorry about that," I apologized. "I should get some food before classes start. It was nice meeting you three."

"It's was our pleasure," Aristo grinned, and threw in a wink for emphasis. I blushed and nodded before turning around and going back to the Gryffindor table.

I took a seat next to Harry, who was sitting right next to Ron. Fred looked at me and nodded. "I see you've met the Solander twins."

"Uh, yeah," I nodded, grabbing a biscuit. I slathered it with butter before eating it. "They're really nice."

"Gorgeous twins," Angelina Johnson, a third year, said from beside Fred. "Cedric's a cute one, too. But  _Aristo_  is  _amazing_." She feigned swooning, landing on Alicia Spinnet, another third year. Alicia giggled.

I peered behind me, and saw the Solander twins talking quietly to each other, while Cedric spoke with a boy with shaggy brown hair. When they made eye contact with me, they gave me almost-blinding smiles and I returned their greeting with a wave.

"Huh, it looks like the twins have taken an interest in you, Jackson," George commented. "Mind introducing me with Rhea?"

"Wouldn't you two already know each other?" I inquired. "You two  _are_  in the same year."

"He meant  _hook up_ ," Fred laughed. "I don't blame him, though. Rhea's a looker."

I rolled my eyes, scoffing mentally in my head,  _Boys_. I got up, and prepared myself for the day.

Wow. Even magical schools were boring.  _Especially_  A History of Magic. Talk about being  _bored_  to  _death_. The only thing that was remotely interesting was Potions.

We had Potions in the dungeon, and our professor was the head of the Slytherin House, Snape. He was a man with very greasy black hair and a large, hooked nose, and crooked teeth. Despite his intimidating presence, I found it…  _respectful_.

He totally bagged on Harry, though, who was a "celebrity". That wasn't very pleasing, but other than that, the man  _clearly_  knew what he was teaching us.

I was paired up with Hermione when we had to create a potion, though, and she didn't even let me do anything, mixing and throwing together everything.

Well, that's the last time I ever worked with her.

Poor, Neville. He got angry red boils all over his face though, and Gryffindor was punished with that with a point deduction.

Something told me Professor Snape wasn't going to be an easy man to please.


	5. I Need A Psychiatrist

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  
> 
> **  
> _"Forgive me, Lord Apollo, don't blast me into oblivion."_  
> **  
> 

On Thursday afternoons, we had flying lessons.

 _Joy_.

I wasn't as thrilled about the class as many people were. Harry shared the same thoughts. I got a heavy pit feeling in my stomach, and I wasn't afraid to address it.

"I don't wanna fly," I declared to my new friends, the Solander twins. "I don't have a good feeling about this."

We had been spending a lot of time together outside of classes. As of now, we were in the library, since it was lunch break, and I was dreading my impending doom.

"It's not hard," Aristo assured me. "Once you've got your balance, you're alright."

"You'll visit me if I end up in the Hospital Wing, right?" I asked them.

"Of course," Rhea assured me, patting my shoulder. "But you won't…" Her face then went blank for a few seconds before she shook her head. "Be careful," she told me seriously.

I furrowed my eyebrows, but nodded slowly. "Yeah. That's what I was going for." I took a glance at the clock, and sighed. I stood up and frowned. "I'll see you guys after class."

Aristo and Rhea nodded, and when I was almost out of earshot, I heard Rhea tell Aristo, "I have a bad feeling…" Yeah. I was gonna die. I probably should've written my will.

I arrived outside in the courtyard, where the Slytherins were already waiting. I took my place next to Harry, and my stomach did backflips.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Madam Hooch, our teacher, barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up." I sighed and walked over to a broomstick. "Stick out your right hand over your broom and say 'Up!'"

I hesitated.

Madam Hooch noticed and asked, "What are you waiting for, Jackson?"

"I  _really_  don't have a good feeling about this," I told her.

"Nothing will happen," she refuted. "Go on."

I sighed and stuck out my hand. "UP!" I shouted. The broom flew into my hand right back so quickly and powerfully that I almost lost my balance.

"Now, when I blow my whistle you kick off from the ground, hard," Madam Hooch said. "Mount your brooms."

I did as she said that, but then Neville kicked off too hard and ended up  _flying_ … and then fell. He groaned in pain and Madam Hooch ran over to him. "Broken wrist," she muttered. She helped him up and said, "None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch.' Come on, dear."

"Did you see his face, the great lump?" Malfoy laughed as soon as Madam Hooch and Neville were out of sight. The Slytherins laughed.

"Shut up, Malfoy," Parvati snapped at the platinum blond.

"Ooh~" Pansy Parkinson, a pug-faced Slytherin teased, "sticking up for Longbottom? Never thought  _you'd_  like fat little crying babies, Parvati."

"Look!" Malfoy exclaimed, running over to the grass. He picked something up and I recognized it as the Rememberall Neville had. "It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him."

"Give that here, Malfoy," Harry spoke up.

"I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find… how about up a tree?" Malfoy teased.

"Give it  _here_!" Harry cried, but Malfoy just simply climbed onto his broomstick and flew away. "You want it back? Come and get it then, Potter!"

"No!" Hermione protested, appearing in front of Harry. "Madam Hooch told us not to move. You'll get us all into trouble."

"Kick his butt," I encouraged.

" _Penny_!" Hermione complained.

Harry nodded and mounted his broom. He kicked off and I watched them battle it up in the air. I couldn't hear what they said, though, but Malfoy then through the Rememberall.

Harry leaned forward on his broomstick, and I watched as he soared gracefully in the air, catching the Rememberall easily.

"HARRY POTTER!" I heard a shrill voice call. Harry winced and then he dismounted his broom just as Professor McGonagall walked over. " _Never_  - in all my time at Hogwarts… you could've broken your  _neck_!"

"It wasn't his fault, Professor -" Ron attempted to assuage the woman, but she wouldn't have it.

"That  _enough_ , Mr. Weasley. Potter, follow me, now."

Professor McGonagall walked away with a contrite Harry, and I felt sorry for him. Malfoy and his goons were happily snickering, though, and I scoffed mentally.

Madam Hooch came back and declared the class was dismissed, and I began to walk away, but then heard something. I turned around, and felt the ground shaking.

This was  _not_  good.

The bushes began to shake, and then a  _huge_  bull burst out from behind the bushes. My eyes widened and I ran, but it mooed and ran after me.

"Crap, crap, crap, crap," I cursed, running away. I couldn't bring this into the school. I ran into the forest, and did my best to shake it off, but instead, it just knocked over the trees.

 _I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die,_  I chanted in my head.

 _The pen,_  I heard a voice in my head say.

_Pen? What pen?_

_The pen given to you by Apollo. Open it._

I don't have it with me though. But something told me I did. I reached into the pocket of my robes and felt the ballpoint pen. I uncapped it, and my eyes widened in shock when it transformed into a long, elegant sword right before my eyes.

The blade glowed a soft bronze color, and it reminded me a lot of a xiphos, a Greek sword from ancient times.

The bull mooed and I ran, the sword in hand.  _What do I do?_  I cried in my head.

 _Trust your instincts_ , the voice told me.

My instincts. What do my instincts say? I almost tripped as I stumbled over a tree root, but quickly caught myself. I jumped out of the way of the bull's path and brought up my sword just in time as it head-butted me.

I flew back into a tree, and groaned in pain. I felt something trickle down the back of my head and my vision started to get blurry. I rolled out of the way as it charged at me, and I heard the tree break and fall to the ground.

On reflex, my hand that was holding the sword shot up, and the bull let out a cry of pain as I stabbed it. I ignored the pain I felt and slid out from under it and swung up, landing on its back.

The bull began to shake wildly, but I held on as tightly as I could. My left hand gripped tightly onto its horns, and my right arm raised. I stabbed down on the bull, and it let out a cry of pain.

I suddenly fell to the ground as the bull vanished. The dust fluttered around me, and I didn't move as my eyesight began to fade in and out.

A shadow fell over me, and I saw the boy that I've been seeing. He smiled at me and said, "Good job."

"Dad!" I heard two voices gasp in the distance.

"Y-you're…" I groaned drowsily, before I slumped to the ground, unconscious.

" _Penny,"_  I heard a male voice call.

" _Penny, wake up,"_  I heard a female voice say.

" _Penny?"_  the male voice called again.

I groaned, and slowly opened my eyes. Two sets of concerned blue eyes looked down at me. "What're you two doing here?" I asked, but it sounded like "Whadaooeemeer".

"English, please?" Rhea asked me.

"If not, then Ancient Greek's good, too," Aristo piped in. He was holding me up a bit.

"What are you two doing here?" I asked, my voice raspy. Then I realized something. "Oh my Gods." I jumped to my feet, and would've fallen if it weren't for Rhea catching me. "There was this bull. And then this voice in my head. And then my pen became a sword. And then I  _killed_  the bull! And then the bull became  _dust_!"

"First off, it was a Cretan Bull, and yeah, they do that when you hit them with Celestial Bronze," Aristo told me.

"Celesta whuh?" I cocked my head to the side. "Wait… why am I not hurt?" Once my thoughts cleared up, I realized I wasn't bleeding. "Was everything a dream?"

"Our dad found you," Rhea told me. "He healed you, too. It wasn't a dream, Penny."

"Wait," I interjected. "It was real?" When the twins nodded, I couldn't handle it. I got out of Rhea's grip and began to pace. "Aw, man. I need to a psychiatrist. Like,  _badly_. First I have ADHD. Then I have dyslexia. Then I was left breathless by this guy. Then I get speech impairment. And now I'm hallucinating. Oh my God. I need to be put into an asylum."

I dug my hands into my hair and pulled.

"You're  _not_  crazy," Aristo told me. "Wait, you met our father before this?"

"No, no, no," I shook my head, looking at the twins. "There's  _no_  way this guy could be your guys'  _dad_. He… he looks a lot like you," I gestured to Aristo, "but he wasn't any older than eighteen, nineteen. Twenty's pushing it. He's hands down the best-looking guy I've ever met. Hair that resembled the sun, eyes a light blue like the sky…  _No way_  is he your  _dad_."

The twins exchanged looks and said, "No. That's our dad."

I felt like fainting again. " _What_?"

"Our dad's immortal," Rhea told me as softly as she could. "He's a God. Apollo."

"As in the  _Sun God_?" At that, the sun seemed to shine brighter. "No. They're just myths to explain things!"

Thunder rumbled in the distance, and Aristo and Rhea's faces dropped.

"I'd be careful about calling them myths," Aristo told me. "Because they're very much real. And they get touchy about that." Thunder boomed in the distance again. "Sorry!"

Then I realized something. "You said your dad was Apollo." Aristo and Rhea nodded. "So the stories about them coming down and having kids…? That's - that's all real?" More nods. "... You guys are demigods then."

"Yep," the two told me like they were telling me the sky was blue.

"I've been seeing your dad."

"Uh-huh."

"This is unbelivable."

"You're in a school that teaches  _magic_ ," Rhea informed me. Good point.

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because you're one, too," they told me.

"Who's my dad, then?" I asked them.

"Uh… that, we don't know," Aristo said, looking at his twin. "We were hoping you'd tell us that."

"He left when I was a baby," I said bluntly. "I don't know who he is."

"Well, we do now," Rhea pointed out, gesturing above me. I looked up, and even though it was fading, I saw a sea green shape of a trident appear above my head. When I refocused, I saw the two were bowed in front of me.

"Um… why are you kneeling?" I asked cautiously.

"Your dad, Penny," Aristo said, "is Poseidon, God of the Seas, Earthquakes, Storms, and Horses."

"No," I said.

Aristo and Rhea looked up at me with annoyed looks.

"We might not know everything, but our father  _is_  the God of Knowledge. We know some stuff," Aristo told me. "Your father  _is_  Poseidon."

"Right," I said, contrite. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Rhea told me. "It's hard to grasp at first. But... Wow. The Daughter of Poseidon."

"What's so amazing about it? Other than it's a God's kid, of course. Shouldn't Poseidon have hundreds more?"

"The Big Three, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, swore on the River Styx after World War II to not have children. That's why. As of now, you're the only child of Poseidon," Aristo informed.

"But... I have a twin," I told them.

"You can't tell him who he is, then," Rhea told me. "Poseidon didn't claim you until just now, but there's a reason why he hasn't claimed your brother yet, so don't tell him."

I found it hard to grasp, anyway, so I just nodded dumbly. "So how'd you guys know…?"

"Your dyslexia and ADHD," they both said.

"You're dyslexic because your brain's hard-wired to read Ancient Greek, hence why our schedules, and I'm sure your books, are in Ancient Greek," Rhea said.

"And your ADHD is your battle instincts," Aristo added. "You can't sit still because you're meant to fight, to be a hero."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I said, placing my hand into a  _T_. "I'm no hero. I'm not a fighter, either."

"It's in your blood," Aristo countered. "Whether you like it or not, you're a born fighter."

I nodded, slowly letting this digest. "Okay," I concluded.

"We should be heading back to the castle. It's almost time for dinner," Rhea said, and we left the forest. "You were right to fear the skies, though. Zeus isn't quite happy with Poseidon."

"Who do I spy~ my cousins~!" Peeves exclaimed, suddenly appearing and flying around us as we walked through the castle.

"Leave us alone, Peeves!" Aristo grumbled.

Peeves huffed, but did as Aristo said. I looked at the two curiously. "Cousin?"

"Peeves is the son of Hermes," Rhea informed me. "He's technically our uncle. He's your first cousin once removed. We are too. It's a lot easier just saying cousin. It gets complicated when you just  _try_ , 'cause technically, you and our dad are cousins."

"My brain hurts," I grumble, reaching up and massaging my head. "This is a lot to process."

We entered the Great Hall, where various people were already seated. Aristo messed up my hair before Rhea slapped him on the shoulder and they walked off to the Hufflepuff table.

I walked over the Gryffindor table and exhaled heavily, taking my spot on the other side of Harry.

"Where'd you go after class?" Ron asked me. "We went around looking for you."

"I went for a walk," I told him, not really wanting to explain myself. That seemed acceptable, and he nodded.

"Can you two keep a secret?" Harry asked us, looking at us both. When we nodded, he told us how McGonagall took him away to Oliver Wood to become the Seeker of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

Ron was heavily impressed and I offered my congratulations before asking, "What's Quidditch?"

"What's Quidditch?" two voices echoed me. "It's only the  _best sport_  in the entire  _world_! Good Godric, Jackson! Where the bloody hell have you  _been_?!"

And that was when the three Weasley brothers informed me all about Quidditch and their techniques and teams and whatnot.

"Too much information," I groaned, face-planting onto the table. All this Greek God stuff and Quidditch rules were giving me a major migraine. Fred and George bade us goodbye before leaving, and an annoying snooty voice popped up.

"Having a last meal, Potter? When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?" Malfoy goaded.

"You're a lot braver now that you're back on the ground and you've got your little friends with you," Harry replied calmly. Ugh. Boys and their testosterone.

I heard the sounds of knuckles cracking, and I just wanted to reach behind them and just beat them up myself. Hey, I was geared to fight, right?

"I'd take you on anytime on my own," Malfoy scoffed. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only - no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?"

"Of course he has," Ron jumped in. "I'm his second, who's yours?"

"Crabbe," Malfoy said after a second. "Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room; that's always unlocked. You coming to watch tonight, Jackson?"

"Pass," I scoffed. "I'm gonna skip dinner. I've had an exhausting day. Good luck, you two." I patted Harry and Ron on the shoulders and walked off. I didn't even want to know what a Wizard's duel was right now.

I walked up a few staircases, and then spotted something in the corner of my eye. I darted off in that direction, before it could escape me. I ran down a hallway, and heard a door click shut.

I slowed down, heading to the door that just closed. I gripped the handle and pushed open, but it was just an empty classroom. I entered it, regardless, because I felt a presence in here.

I turned around, and almost stumbled over myself as I came face to chest with someone. The owner of the chest reached out and grabbed me just before I fell.

"Apollo…" the name fell out of my mouth before I even had a chance to stop it.

The being before me chuckled and I straightened myself. He let go of my wrist and smirked at me. "So you know who I am, now."

I nodded my head. "Why are you following me around?"

"Dunno," the God told me, shrugging his shoulders. Was he really a  _God_? "Ooh, this calls for a special haiku." He cleared his throat:

" _Daughter of the Sea  
_ _Meets the great Lord of the Sun.  
_ _She is now in awe."_

I blinked. "Are you sure you're the God of Poetry?" When I realized what I said, I quickly slapped my hands over my mouth, my eyes wide in shock. "Forgive me, Lord Apollo, don't blast me into oblivion."

Instead of that, Apollo just let out a musical laugh, and my heart fluttered. "You're pretty funny," he chuckled. "I'm not gonna blast you into oblivion. Don't worry about it."

A silence filled the room, and I could hear the crickets chirping just outside.

"You're also really cute, too," he commented, placing a hand under my chin. My face flushed and he looked down at me intensely. "I wouldn't mind being hurled at you."

What? "What?" I echoed my thoughts. "What do you mean by that?"

Apollo gave me a smirk before reciting:

" _Daughter of the Sea, born as one in two's world,_

_Lord of the Light, to her he will be hurled,_

_She will stop a darkness that will arise,_

_And discover what she will find in the skies."_

"I don't get it," I furrowed my brows. "Is that supposed to be a poem?"

Apollo chuckled lowly before saying, "I'm the God of  _many_  things, Penny. There's the Sun, Music, Healing, Archery, Poetry, and Prophecy. What I just told you was a prophecy meant for you and I."

"I-I don't understand," I said. "Why's there a prophecy about me?"

"Who knows?" Apollo shrugged. "I said I'm the God of it, not the Creator of it. I just deliver them. They  _will_  come true though. So you ask  _why_  I've been following you? I don't know. I just end up seeking you out. It's a bonus that you're cute, too." He winked at me, and I felt heat rise up my cheeks. "Good job today, too."

"You saw it?" I asked him. "Why didn't you do anything?"

"There are laws that hold us back," Apollo explained. "I can't jump in, but hey, you did quite well by yourself, didn't you?"

"I almost died," I deadpanned.

"No, you didn't," Apollo waved it off. "Your bloodstain was a bitch to clean up though."

I vaguely remembered bleeding. Ah. "Thank you," I told him. "Aristo and Rhea said you healed me."

"I did," Apollo nodded. "Do I get a kiss as a thank you?"

My eyes widened and if I was drinking something, I would've spat it all over him. "Wha - I - ah - I - but you're a -" I was quickly losing oxygen in my brain.

"I'm just kidding," Apollo chuckled. "Well, maybe. How about we wait when you're a bit older, yeah?" He winked at me and I flushed again. Dammit. I needed to stop that. "I'll stop teasin' you now. Well, you should be off to bed. I'll see you later. Better close your eyes."

I did as he told, and I felt a warm light surround me before it disappeared. When I opened my eyes again, Apollo was gone.

I sighed and reached for the door, opening it. It was only then did I realize how dark it was. Oh  _crap_. I began to wander down the hallways, hoping to reach the common room soon.

I was walking up a set of stairs when I heard, "STUDENTS OUT OF BED! STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!" Crap.

I was almost barreled over by Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Neville a few seconds later.

"What the - Penny? Run!" Harry exclaimed and I was all but dragged away by the group of four.

"It's locked!" Ron cried, almost weeping.

"Oh, step aside!" Hermione ordered. " _Alohamora_!" The door unlocked itself and I was dragged inside.

My eyes widened in shock while the other four had their ears pressed against the door. I faintly heard Harry scold Neville, when all four suddenly took a sharp breath.

The black dog growled at us, but that was not the terrifying thing.

It had three heads.

That's right.

 _Three_.

I heard Harry fumble for the doorknob and the dog began to growl. "Hurry up, Harry," I hissed.

The door flung open and we all ran out of the room before the dog could attack. We didn't stop running until we were safely inside the common room.

I panted heavily, and began to walk off my exhaustion. Oh Gods. Oh Gods. "What in the name of Styx was  _that_?" I panted. Somewhere off in the distance, thunder rumbled.

"What were you even  _doing_?" Ron asked. "I thought you went to bed a long time ago! You said you were tired!"

"I don't even have words," I threw my hands in the air, ignoring Ron's question. "I need a psychiatrist. Badly." Without another word to the others, I began to walk away, going up to the stairs.

I need to sleep this off.


	6. Keeping Dry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **_Pft. You should see his_ dad _._**

A Cerberus.

That's what that thing was.

_A fierce hellhound that guards the Underworld under the command of Hades, the King of the Underworld and the God of the Dead and Riches._

So we could literally say we ran into Hell.

I closed the book I had and gave it back to Madam Pince, who tapped it with her wand and it went back to English. I left the library and almost ran into Ron, who gripped me excitedly.

"Penny!" he exclaimed. "Harry got a Nimbus Two-Thousand!"

"Cool!" I replied back, matching his enthusiasm, beaming at Harry. Then I asked, "What's a Nimbus Two-Thousand?"

"It's only the  _fastest_  broomstick yet!" Ron cried, shocked that I didn't know it. "You  _really_  don't appreciate the wonders of Quidditch, Penny."

The three of us walked back to the Common Room, and Ron was all giddy with excitement. It was only when I brought up the three-headed dog did he stop. "So it's called a Cerberus."

"Really?" Harry asked, and I nodded in confirmation. "Well, whatever it's hiding, it's probably hiding something important and dangerous."

"Yeah," I echoed, agreeing with him. "But I wonder what. Pig snout," I gave the password to the Fat Lady and her portrait swung wide open.

"You wanna go see it?" Ron asked me eagerly.

"I'll pass," I replied. "I need to write a couple letters." Harry and Ron nodded and they both rushed up the staircase, while I took my leisure time up to my dormitory.

Halloween Day had me in Professor Flitwick's class, learning a simple levitation spell.  _Cool_.

" _Wingardium Leviosa,_ " I said, swishing and flicking. I moved my hand and to my surprise, the feather moved with it. "Oh, this is cool!" I exclaimed.

"Yes!" Professor Flitwick cried. "Miss Jackson's done it!"

I adored Professor Flitwick. He was a tiny man - not even four feet - and dressed in green robes. He was very enthusiastic about teaching, and when he called attendance for the very first time, he fell off his stack of books when he got to Harry's name.

"You're saying it wrong," I heard Hermione snap at Ron. "It's Wing- _gar_ -dium Levi- _o_ -sa."

"You do it, then, if you're so clever," I peered over Harry to see Ron gesture towards Hermione's feather.

Hermione smiled, rolled up her sleeves, and swished and flicked her wand. " _Wingardium Leviosa_!" Ron scowled and slumped in his seat while Professor Flitwick gave her praise.

After class, I was walking slowly to see if I could catch a glimpse of the third year Hufflepuffs, who had Herbology. The Solander twins and Cedric were telling me about how they were raising Puffapods during class, so they could harvest them next month.

As I walked by, I quickly spotted the three. Aristo was the first to notice me and waved from inside the classroom, followed by Rhea and Cedric. I waved back and was about to smile, when I felt someone roughly push past me.

I frowned and looked away just in time to see Hermione running down the hallway, to the girls' restroom.  _Someone_  had to go.

"I think she heard you," Harry's voice came.

"So?" Ron inquired. I had turn to see what was going on, only to see Ron forcing his face to be indifferent, even though it was disturbed. "She must've noticed she's got no friends."

I sighed heavily, catching the attention of the two. "What'd you two do this time? Or more specifically, Ron, what did yo do?"

"What makes you think  _I_  did it?" Ron demanded, glaring down at me.

I rolled my eyes, retorting, "Because you're you."

"He might've said Hermione was a nightmare," Harry provided for me.  _Ah_.

Ron glared at his best friend. "Way to back me up."

"She would've gotten it out, regardless," Harry replied. "Could you check up on her?"

"Yeah," I sighed. "Sure." I didn't really know Hermione that well, though, so I'd probably get a "Go away!" and then out of obligation, I'd have to stick around. Oh Gods, I really hope I don't miss the Halloween Feast.

I spun around, making my way to the girls' bathroom. I was greeted with the sound of trickling water and sniffles. "Hermione?" I called out cautiously.

"Go away!" she snapped, just like I expected.

I sighed and went into the bathroom stall next to her. Parvati and Lavender came walking in, and when they heard the sounds, they looked at me, since I left the stall door open.

I shook my head and they nodded, leaving the bathroom. Hermione continue to sniffle in the stall next door and I really didn't know what to do. I started to get jittery, and since I didn't know what to do, I just began talking.

"I never had any friends growing up," I told her. "My best and only friend is my twin brother, Percy. No one ever wanted to be our friend, and we just learned to accept that we'd never be able to be friends with other kids. We never had a dad growing up, and we were teased mercilessly for it. Kids could be so cruel. It didn't help that Percy and I are dyslexic and have ADHD, too.

"Hogwarts is the sixth school I've been to. I've been expelled in five different schools in the past five years because strange things always happened. My brother and I were blamed for it, and no one bothered to defend us.

"Then I got my letter to Hogwarts, and one of the first things I realized while coming here was that it wasn't really different from regular schools. You have your popular kids, you have the geeks, you have the nerds, you have the class clown… You just add in magic.

"But that's another thing I saw. As cheesy as it is, this school is  _magical_. I've actually been  _accepted_ , and it feels  _amazing_. I've always wondered what it was like to be accepted somewhere and I finally got it. If someone like  _me_ , who got expelled five times, had no friends except her brother, and no father, I'm pretty sure there are people out there who accept who you are… even if they  _can_  get to you sometimes."

Hermione sniffled quietly before calling my name out wearily, "Penny?"

"Hm?" I asked, looking at the ceiling now.

"Thank you," she said so faintly, it sounded like a whisper.

"You're welcome," I said, getting to my feet. I left the restroom, and that was when I felt something that made a tingle go up my spine. It wasn't a good tingle, either.

Hermione was staring up at something behind me. She then let out an ear-piercing scream and I whirled around, pulling out my pen and uncapping it.

I whirled around just in time for a club to swing down at me. My sword absorbed most of the hit, but I ended up flying back, crashing through a stall and hitting the wall. Hermione let out another scream.

I groaned as my head throbbed mercilessly. " _Hermione_!" I heard two voices yelled out. I had to get up.

"Harry! Ron!" Hermione weeped. " _Penny_!"

"Confuse it!" I heard Harry order and when I pushed myself off all the rubble, I spotted Harry swinging as he held onto the troll's neck. He stuck his wand up the nose and I heard a sickening  _squish_.

The troll swung its club and water splashed everywhere. I stood up shakily, keeping a tight grip on my sword. "Ron!" I called. "Get Harry off of it!"

The water splashed at me, but instead of distracting me, it was rejuvenating me. " _Wingardium Leviosa_!" Ron cried and Harry floated off of the troll.

"Hey, Ugly!" I called over the water. To my amazement, the water swirled around me, and I felt my fingers tingling. I raised my right arm, and the water followed my movement. I pushed forward. The water moved with my arm, splashing the troll's face.

As it sputtered the water everywhere, I shot from where I was. I ran forward, thrusting the sword into the troll's gut. It exploded into particles of dust, floating around me. The club clattered to the ground as multiple footsteps came rushing in.

Professor Quirrell shakily walked over to a broken stall and sat down on a toilet, whimpering and clenching his heart.

"Penny!" Aristo called, running over to me. He was getting soaked due to the water flying everywhere, and I realized I was still completely dry. I slumped against him, grateful for a clutch.

"What on earth were you thinking of?!" Professor McGonagall shrieked, her voice full of fury. "You're lucky you weren't killed! Why aren't you in your dormitory?"

"Please, Professor McGonagall, they were looking for me," Hermione said weakly.

"Miss Granger!"

"I went looking for the troll because I - I thought I could deal with it on my own - you know, because I've read all about them. If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. Harry stuck his wand up its nose, Ron got Harry off of the troll, and Penny… Penny killed it…"

I felt eyes on me and Rhea shielded me from them. She wasn't facing me, but I heard her voice, low and dark light the night, as opposed to the sunshine. "You are to tell no one what happened here."

"Miss Solander's correct," Professor McGonagall agreed. "You three are to not tell  _anyone_  under  _any_  circumstances, what occurred in this room. Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this. Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, and Miss Jackson will be awarded five points each. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go."

I heard Harry, Ron, and Hermione shuffle out of the room. Aristo pulled me away from him and looked down at me. "How you feeling?"

"Okay, now," I replied. I lifted up Tempest in my hand. "This helped a lot. The water did, too."

"Miss Jackson," Professor Snape said, picking up the large club. "I believe this belongs to you."

Rhea took it from his hands and looked at her brother. "I'll send this to Chiron."

"Who's Chiron?" I asked the two, capping the pen. I slipped it back into the pocket of my robes, standing up straighter.

Aristo reached for my dry hair and rubbed it. "We need to get started on teaching you. C'mon, I'll walk you to your dorm. Professors." He nodded at the three before leaving the bathroom with Rhea and me.

"Wanna tell me what happened?" Aristo asked as we walked through the hallway. Our footsteps echoed off the walls, giving us a sense that we were alone. "It happened after you talked to Harry and Ron, right?"

"How'd you know?" I cocked my head to the side, angling myself to look up at him.

Aristo looked down at me, his blond bangs falling over his eyes. "You guys were right outside my Herbology class."

Oh. … Right.

"Hermione might've been crying in the girls' restroom, so I went to comfort her," I told him, shrugging my shoulders. "It was bad luck the troll showed up." I cocked my head to the side and saw that Aristo was still wet, but he had stopped dripping a long time ago. "Isn't that uncomfortable?"

"I've been through worse," he told me, and I believed him. I felt like I could do something about it, so I reached out and grabbed his wet robes. To my shock, it began to dry, and it spread through him. Within a few seconds, he was completely dry. "... Whoa. That's cool."

I nodded in agreement. "What did you mean by teaching me, earlier?" I asked, getting off a set of stairs.

"Come to the left corridor on the seventh floor tomorrow after dinner," Aristo told me as we stopped in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady. "See you tomorrow." He ruffled my hair. He walked a few steps away before turning around, telling me, "Oh, don't tell them everything, alright?" He then winked and walked away.

"That boy is  _handsome_ , darling," the Fat Lady giggled. Pft. You should see his  _dad_.

I rolled my eyes and supplied her with the password. She swung open, allowing me to make it through the portrait hole. I was exhausted, once again, and just wanted to get some shut eye for the night.

Unfortunately for me, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were waiting on the couch for me, and when they saw me, they sprung up. Where the heck was everyone?

They all began talking at once, and all I heard was "troll" "fight" "how" "died" and "bogies".

My eye began to twitch as they just got louder and louder. I raised up my two hands, slapping them over Hermione and Ron's mouths, who were on both ends. Harry, seeing me do that, shut his mouth.

"You guys shouldn't question what happened," I told them. "We're all alive. That's all that matters. Maybe some day I'll tell you guys, but for now, it's my secret to keep, alright?"

"Buff-" Ron protested muffledly. I silenced him with a glare. He nodded. Harry and Hermione did not look pleased, but nodded nonetheless.

I walked up to the dormitory, and pulled out a piece of parchment:

_Percy -_

_How are you and how's New York? It's great over here. Today we had a Halloween Feast, but I missed it because Ron was being a git and then hurt Hermione's feelings, so we (as in Hermione and I) ended up spending the entire time in the girls' restroom. I told her about us when I was trying to comfort her. I dunno. You know how I get when it's silent._

_So yeah._

_Then a troll appeared. Oh Gods, it was HUGE. Like, twelve feet tall huge. I'm glad I had ADHD, because I couldn't sit still and it didn't hit me._

_Harry and Ron came in, too, and then we beat the troll. How awesome is that?! I know, I know. Before you say it, I know I could've died, but if we didn't fight it, we would've died, and we didn't, so hey, no complaints. Just thought you'd hear it from me before Mom calls you about it._

_Professor McGonagall took five points off from us because Hermione told her that she went looking for it, but it's alright. Professor McGonagall awarded Harry, Ron, and me for "sheer dumb luck" for beating that mountain troll._

_Crisis averted, I guess._

_Cedric, Aristo, and Rhea are doing well, too. I saw Cedric and Ree walking off somewhere together a couple days ago. They didn't see me though. SHHH. I was going up to meet up with Aristo in the library, and saw them by chance._

_Oh! Remember that three-headed dog I was almost killed by because Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville decided to drag me along?_

_It's called a cerberus, and it's supposed to guard the Underworld. If it guards the Underworld, what is it doing here? Maybe the Underworld is just a myth?_

I looked up from my writing as I heard thunder boom.  _Whoops_. I guess it's real then.

_Maybe there's more than one cerberus. Gyuh. That's scary. As if one wasn't bad enough._

_Oh! You also remember how you said don't destroy a bathroom…?_

…  _Whoops. The girls' bathroom got TOTALLY destroyed in our fight against the troll, but hey! I was AWARDED for it. I'm not being expelled! I live another day at Hogwarts! Haha._

_Much love, Penny_

I finished up the letter before pulling out another paper to write to my mom.

I just told her about the troll incident, though. She didn't know that I ran into a three-headed dog a few weeks ago. It was better for her to hear about  _this_  escapade from me rather than my teachers. I wrapped up the letter, and left both of them on my desk, and made a mental note to go to the Owlery tomorrow.


	7. November

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **_Leave it to Hagrid to name a_ Cerberus _, a guardian of_ Hell _,_ Fluffy _._**

While November for most Hogwarts students brought Quidditch season, to the Solander twins and I, it brought lessons on Olympus, their Gods, and children.

And sparring lessons.

Which was how I found myself on the floor, head throbbing because it had pounded against the hardwood floor of the Room of Requirement.

"Surprising how you've defeated  _two_  monsters when you can't even beat a Child of Apollo," Rhea commented from where she sat a few feet away. "You'd be dead if you were fighting a monster that could think."

Aristo stuck his hand out in front of me and he easily lifted me from the ground. "The only form of combat we're known for is archery, so you know you're bad when you're losing to us in a sword fight."

"I just need a bit more practice," I grumbled.

"Or a lot more," Rhea supplied helpfully.

I gracefully plopped myself down on the seat across from her at the table she sat at. Aristo slid me a bottle of water before sitting down next to me. He threw his arm over the back of my chair and leaned back casually so his chair was balanced on the two back legs.

"Do I really have to learn all these things, too?" I asked, looking at the books that were scattered on the table. "I thought Camp Half-Blood is just a  _camp_."

"Well, it  _is_ , but you  _are_  taught how to fight. This stuff we're teaching you is just an FYI. You're  _supposed_  to know these things," Rhea replied. "So unless you can tell us the special abilities of all the Gods and Ancient Greek history, you're learning."

"Damn," I cursed, and Aristo chuckled as Rhea opened the first book.

By the time it was time for dinner, my mind was spiraling with information. While sparring Aristo, Rhea would ask random questions. If I got them wrong, I would have an arrow shot at me and I'd have to dodge it while keeping Aristo at bay.

She asked me a whopping total of forty-eight questions. There were twenty-nine arrows stuck in various places of the room when we left. I was  _starving_  by the time we reached the Great Hall.

I said goodbye to the twins before jogging over to where Harry, Ron, and Hermione were. I plopped down next to Hermione and began to stack my plate with food.

"Where were you the entire afternoon?" Hermione asked me after I shoveled a spoonful of mashed potatoes into my mouth.

I swallowed before answering, "With Aristo and Rhea. Why?"

"You weren't there, but Snape  _totally_  made up a rule about not being able to read outside of school, and he took five points away from Harry for reading  _Quidditch Through the Ages_  outside," Ron scoffed. He then bit into his chicken leg and huffed angrily. "He's got it in for us."

"I think he's alright," I shrugged.

"Says you," Harry grumbled. "He's never taken points from you. I want that book back."

"So go to the staffroom later," I suggested. "I don't know why you're so antsy about it. It's just a Quidditch game."

" _Just_  a Quidditch game?" two almost-identical voices echoed in disbelief.

"Sweet Merlin, Penny," George gasped. "How could you?"

"We might have to retract that 'honorary Weasley' title you have because of that," Fred completed.

"Your Mum and Dad love me, though, so as long as they do, I'm an honorary Weasley," I snarkily answered. When did I start saying  _Mum_  instead of  _Mom_? I mentally checked through my letters I sent to my mother and wondered if I started writing in a British accent.

"Bill and Charlie will see to it that it will be gone," Ron told me. "So you better start liking Quidditch."

"No, thanks," I frowned. "We're human. We're not meant to fly. I'd rather stay firmly planted on the ground."

"You just don't like Quidditch because you're a ruddy flyer," Ron countered. "You were  _all_  shaking during flying lessons."

"Oh, really now?" The twins were all up in my business and I shoved George's face out of the way.

"Leave her alone," Hermione sighed. "Not  _everyone_  likes sports."

"I knew there was a reason I loved you, Hermione," I sighed dramatically, reaching over to hug the bushy haired girl.

Her face scrunched up. "Yes, well, you can let go. Your hands have chicken grease on them." I take it back. I pulled back and simply went back to my eating.

"You  _are_  coming to the Quidditch match though, right?" Harry asked, looking at me from across the table.

"Of course," I nodded. "It's your first game, after all. The only reason I'd miss it is because I'm in a life-or-death situation." And I just jinxed myself. Thank Gods there was wood everywhere, so I just knocked on the table. Problem solved. "No promises that I'll go to  _all_  your games, though."

Harry shrugged, accepting what he could.

My three friends waited for me as I finished eating. It wasn't for another fifteen minutes when I was finishing up the last of my slice of pumpkin pie did I declare I was finished.

" _Finally_!" Ron exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "For a tiny person, you sure eat a  _lot_."

"You're one to talk," I snorted. Ron ate like a  _pig_. His appetite reminded me of Percy's, actually.  _My_  brother Percy, not his.

"I really want my book back," Harry said as we walked to the common room. "Like,  _badly_."

Ron and Hermione looked at each other before saying in unison, "Better you than me."

Harry looked at me, widening his forest green eyes as much as possible. "Penny? Please?"

"Too lazy," I drawled. Without waiting for the three, I began walking up the set of stairs that would eventually connect to another set.

Harry sighed and I heard him walk away while Ron and Hermione quickly followed after me before the staircase could move.

It didn't take us long to reach the Gryffindor common room, and I happily plopped on one of the couches while Ron and Hermione sat on either side of me. I folded up my legs so I could sit comfortably and look at the two at the same time.

"You've been spending an awful lot of time with the Solander twins," Ron commented. "Actually, you're almost always with the Hufflepuffs during breakfast."

"You guys take too long to get ready," I shrugged. "It's not like it's bad or anything."

"What'll happen when Gryffindor plays Hufflepuff in Quidditch?"

I rolled my eyes. "Ced's big on the sport, but Aristo and Rhea could care less as well."

"Traitor," Ron grumbled.

"Oh, stop being a baby," Hermione sighed. "I heard those three are top of their year, is it true?"

"If they're so smart, why aren't they in Ravenclaw, then?" Ron huffed.

"Yellow and black look better on them than blue and bronze," I repeated. I had asked them the same question and the three just answered together. I think blue and bronze would look great on them anyway, but I assumed it was just because their loyalty was a lot stronger than their wit (not to say that they  _weren't_  witty, just less).

"Guys!" Harry exclaimed, running up to us. He was panting heavily, and looked like he just went through hell.

"You want water?" I asked, cocking my head to the side. Harry wheezed a bit and I took that as a yes. I pulled out my wand and flicked it, " _Accio_  water bottle." A few seconds went by and then a water bottle flew right into my hands.

I handed it to Harry, who took it gratefully and began to down the contents.

"Where'd you learn  _that_?" Hermione asked, intrigued. "I've read the Charms textbook and I haven't seen that spell."

I grinned at her and replied, "Something I picked up from Aristo. The guy's lazy as hell and prefers to use this to summon everything into his hands."

Before Hermione could say anything else, Harry heaved a grateful sigh.

"Did you get it? What's the matter?" Ron asked his best friend.

"So I went to get my book in the staffroom and knocked," Harry told us quietly. "Snape and Filch were in there together, alone. And then I  _clearly heard_  Snape say, 'Blasted thing. How are you supposed to keep your eyes on all three heads at once?' Then Snape spotted me and I  _ran_.

"Do you know what this means?! He tried to get past that three-headed dog at Halloween! THat's where he was going when we saw him - he's after whatever it's guarding! And I'd bet my broomstick  _he_  let that troll in, to make a diversion!"

"No," Hermione shook her head. "He wouldn't. I know he's not very nice, but he wouldn't try and steal something DUmbledore was keeping safe." I nodded my head in agreement.

"Honestly, Hermione, you think all teachers are saints or something," Ron snapped at her. "I'm with Harry. I wouldn't put anything past Snape. But what's he after? What's that dog guarding?"

I didn't want to believe it, but these days, I didn't know  _what_  to believe. I sighed, declaring myself exhausted for the night. Hermione agreed with me and the two of us walked up the spiral staircase into our dormitory.

The next morning, I found myself sitting at the Hufflepuff table. The Gryffindors I usually talked and spent time with (AKA the Weasley twins, Harry, Ron, and Hermione) were nowhere in sight, which meant they were still asleep.

"What are you guys gonna do while the Quidditch game's going on?" I asked Aristo, who was sitting next to me on my right.

"Normally, Rhea and I would just hit the library, but since it's the first game of the year, might as well go to it. It's Gryffindor versus Slytherin, too. Those games aren't half-bad."

"'Half-bad'?" Cedric asked from across the table next to Rhea. "It's  _brilliant_. Maybe with Potter as a Seeker, Gryffindor will  _finally_  kick Slytherin's arse."

"Don't take this the wrong way, Ced," Rhea started gently, patting the back of Cedric's hand, "but we'd rather  _not_  stand next to you in the stands during a Quidditch game. You get a bit crazy."

Cedric shrugged, not at all disturbed. He scooped a spoonful of eggs into his mouth before turning to Maxine O'Flaherty, a Beater on the Hufflepuff team. Cedric was on the team as a Chaser  **[1]** and from what I'd heard, he'd probably be Captain once the current one graduated.

By the time it was eleven o'clock, I was up in one of the stands that was cheering for Gryffindor between Aristo and Rhea. Cedric was a few ways down with members of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, and to say they were enthusiastic was putting it lightly.

Lee Jordan, a third year Gryffindor who was a friend of the Weasley twins, was commentator and I thoroughly enjoyed his extra comments, "And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor - what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive, too-"

"JORDAN!" Professor McGonagall bellowed.

"Sorry, Professor."

"What are your plans this weekend?" Aristo asked, his eyes still on the game before us.

"Hm? I dunno," I replied, shrugging my shoulders.

"We could just  _not_  got to Hogsmeade," Rhea offered. Since she, Aristo, and Cedric were in their third years, they were allowed to go for a weekend trip to Hogsmeade, which was a nearby village.

"Don't you have a date with Flora Pražak from your House?" I cocked an eyebrow at Aristo.

She had approached us in the library a couple days ago when Aristo was helping me with my Potions essay on Shrivelfig and what kinds of medicine it was used for. She had greeted me with a curt, "Jackson," before proceeding to ask Aristo out during the next Hogsmeade weekend. Aristo flashed her his charming smile before agreeing.

"Yup," Aristo nodded, popping the  _p_. "But just say the word and I can cancel."

"No," I shook my head, watching Angelina score another goal. I clapped politely while everyone around us cheered wildly. "You guys go have fun. I'm gonna hang out with Harry, Ron, and Hermione."

"Wait, was that the Snitch?" I heard Jordan announce.

I saw Harry speeding down towards it, with the Slytherin Seeker, Terrence Higgs, right on his heels. I watched as Harry extended his arm out, and then  _WHAM_!

" **FOUL**!" I heard Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws cried together as Harry flew off-course.

"Ouch," Aristo commented.

"I sure hope he's okay," I frowned, furrowing my eyebrows. "I'd  _love_  to give Flint a piece of my mind." Gryffindor then got a free goal, but I knew the Snitch was lost through all that confusion and chaos.

Every time Slytherin scored a goal, the people around me groaned loudly. Every time Gryffindor made a goal, the people would joyously cheer.

I got tired of standing, so I leaned against Aristo, who was casually leaning against the front of the stands. Rhea was standing too straight for my liking.

I spotted something from the corner of my eye. I pushed myself off the third year and squinted, unsure of what was going on. Something didn't look right.

"Hey, Ced!" I called through the midst of the cheers. " _Ced_!"

"What is it?!" Cedric called back, looking past a few people.

"Could I borrow your binoculars?!" I asked loudly.

" _What_?!"

" _Binoculars_!"

Cedric took off his binoculars and it was passed down various Hufflepuffs before coming to a stop at me. I took it, thanking Justin Finch-Fletchley before placing them over my eyes.

"What's going on?" Rhea asked me as I tried to focus.

"Harry's moving weirdly," I responded, watching as he rode his broomstick like the way I rode the Cretan Bull over a month ago.

The broom then rolled over, and Harry barely held on. The broom jerked, causing Harry to fall, dangling with only one hand. What the Hades was going on?

"You reckon something happened when Flint knocked him?" I asked, still not keeping my eyes off Harry. The broom was swinging madly, with Harry holding on desperately.

"That's impossible," Rhea interjected. "There could only be Dark Magic involved. No way could someone was stupid as Flint do  _that_."

I began searching the stands. A curse required eye contact. Who was it? I searched and searched before stopping in the teachers' box.  _Bingo_.

Now here was the problem.

"Both Quirrell and Snape aren't blinking," I said. Now  _who_  was it? I spotted a spark of fire appear at the end of Snape's robes. He stood up quickly and it was chaos in the section.

I glanced back up to where Harry was. He was securely back on his broom. But now, he was flying at an incredible speed towards something. He was flying towards the ground, with no indication of stopping. He then fell onto the ground on all floors, and was heaving heavily.

"Oh, Gods," I groaned, seeing him gagging. "He looks like he's gonna throw up."

All of a sudden, something golden fell out of his mouth.

"... It was the Snitch," Rhea said in a disbelieving tone. "Does that count?"

Aristo shrugged. "Beats me, but the game stopped, so I guess so. Gryffindor won one-seventy to sixty, Jordan says, so yeah."

"I'm gonna go check up on Harry," I told the twins.

"We'll catch up with you later, then," Rhea nodded. I gave them both a smile before walking off, heading out of the stands before I could get trampled on by everyone else. On the way, I gave Cedric his binoculars back.

We had agreed to meet up back in Hagrid's hut, and it didn't take long for Ron and Hermione to meet up with me.

"I can't believe he  _swallowed_  the Snitch!" Ron exclaimed. "Who'd have thought you could do  _that_?"

"I'd rather not do that again," Harry's voice came, groaning softly. "Especially that broom part, too."

"It was Snape," Ron explained. "Hermione and I saw him. He was cursing your broomstick, muttering. He wouldn't take his eyes off of you, either."

"Rubbish," Hagrid waved off. "Why would Snape do somethin' like  _that_?"

The four of us exchanged looks. Harry opened his mouth and confessed, "I found out something about him. He tried to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween. It bit him. We think he was trying to steal whatever it's guarding."

Before I could interject that Professor Quirrell looked like he was cursing, too, Hagrid dropped his teapot loudly. "How'd you know about Fluffy?"

" _Fluffy_?" all four of us echoed, astonished. Leave it to Hagrid to name a  _Cerberus_ , a guardian of  _Hell_ ,  _Fluffy_.

"That  _thing_  has a name?" Ron cried.

"Yeah," Hagrid nodded, like it was obvious. I guess I wouldn't have it past him to have a three-headed dog named Fluffy. "He's mine. Bought 'im off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year - I lent 'im to Dumbledore to guard the-" He abruptly cut himself off.

"Yes?" Harry urged.

"Now, don't as' me 'nymore," Hagrid grunted. "That's top secret, that is."

"But Snape's trying to  _steal_  it!" Harry exclaimed.

"Rubbish," Hagrid scoffed. "Snape's a Hogwarts teacher, he'd do nothin' of the sort."

"So  _why_  did he just try to  _kill Harry_?!" Hermione demanded. "I know a jinx when I see one, Hagrid. I've read all about them. You've got to keep eye contact and Snape  _wasn't blinking_. I saw him!"

"Um… if it's relevant, Professor Quirrell looked like it, too," I interjected. Four pairs of eyes snapped towards me. "... What?"

"Why in Godric's name would you suspect  _Quirrell_?" Harry asked me. "The man's afraid of his own shadow!"

"No need to snap at me, Harry," I glared at him.

The spectacled boy huffed before saying, "If I had to place a bet on Quirrell or Snape, I'd say it's Snape."

"I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong!" Hagrid denied. "I don' know why Harry's broom acted like dat, but Snape wouln' try an' kll a student! Quirrell, too! Now, lis'en to me, all four of yeh - yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous. You forge' that dog, an' you forge' what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel-"

I quirked an eyebrow just as Harry yelled, "Aha!"

Hagrid huffed angrily. Since we technically got what we needed, the four of us stood up, said goodbye to Hagrid, and left the hut.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione went to head into the castle, but I just lingered behind. I suddenly realized it has been three months since I've done something I used to love doing.

My eyes turned to the direction in the distance and I closed my eyes. I inhaled deeply, and I could feel the ripples and small splashes.

"Penny? You coming?" I heard Harry ask.

"Go back without me," I told them. "I'm going to the lake."

Harry frowned. "If this was able in the hut earlier-"

"It isn't," I shook my head, cutting him off. "I just want to be around water right now." The three exchanged looks but then nodded before turning around and walking away.

I headed off into the direction I was staring off at just a few seconds ago. It didn't take long for me to reach the lake, and I stood at the edge of it, my feet just a few centimeters from the water.

I felt an eagerness that spread through my body, but it was too cold to take off my clothes. Instead, I wanted to try something.

I began to walk forward, clothes on and all, into the lake. Immediately, a refreshing feeling filled through my body, and I felt like I was  _home_. Without wasting any time, I let the water consume me, and dived in.

The water felt amazing. It slipped through my fingers, my hair, my clothes. Wait. My clothes?

I looked down at my clothing, and saw it was still completely dry. I reached forward, expecting to feel heavy, cold material, but it was as soft and warm as I was on land.

I swam deeper and deeper, making sure my breath was being held.

Something swam up to me, and I involuntarily let out a gasp. My eyes widened in shock, until I realized water wasn't rushing down my throat, choking me. I shakily took in a breath, and my eyes grew a bit more as I noticed that I was  _breathing_   _under water_.

"Are you alright, my lady?" the stranger that swam past me earlier asked. I looked at it and I took in the sickly green body that was as big as me. Its yellow eyes stared back at me patiently, its horns almost frightening.

"Y-yeah…" I stuttered out. "Not to be rude, but… what  _are_  you?"

The creature frowned at me before answering, "I'm a Grindylow, my lady. I lurk in these waters with my siblings and masters."

"Masters?" I echoed, confused.

"The merpeople," the Grindylow replied. "I am named Codex."

"It's nice to meet you, Codex. I'm Penny," I said.

"I am aware, my lady," Codex replied. "I can feel it."

I was confused. "Feel what?"

"Your blood," Codex responded. "The blood that pumps in your veins resonates the presence of Our Lord. The second you touched the waters on your first night at Hogwarts, we felt it."

"... I thought only vampires sucked blood," I said warily, backing up cautiously.

Codex let out a laugh and circled me. "No, no, my lady. We are nothing like those foul land creatures. What I meant was the blood of Our Lord is within you."

"Is that why you keep calling me that?"

"Calling you what, my lady?"

" _That_. You keep referring to me as 'my lady', why?"

"Because you are the daughter of Our Lord Poseidon." He looked at me, blinking, confused. "Why else, my lady?"

Of course. I nodded my head and looked up. The sky was almost black, from what I could tell. I looked at Codex and said, "It was nice meeting you, Codex. I should get going before some sends a search party."

Codex nodded eagerly and replied, "Yes, it was a pleasure to meet you, my lady." He looked like he wanted to say something else, but held himself back.

"What is it?" I urged.

"Would it be possible that my lady visits my family and friends next time?" Codex asked hesitantly. "I understand if you can't, though."

"Oh, sure, that's fine," I replied easily. I'd love to meet a merperson. I gave Codex one last wave before swimming up to the surface.

My head popped out first and my bangs fell easily. I reached up, and as I expected, they were dry. I rolled a couple of strands with my hair before swimming to the edge of the lake.

I climbed out of it and began my trek back into the castle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **[1]** I'm well-aware in the books that Cedric's a Seeker, but I always liked him more as a Chaser.


	8. Christmas Desires

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **_"There will be severe consequences going against us, and I don't want to curse you,_ glakia mou _."_**
> 
> PLEASE VISIT TRACYLAY ON FANFICTION.NET TO PARTICIPATE IN MY GIVEAWAY FOR MY READERS.

"If you're not going home during the holidays, are you going to help Harry and Ron research?" Hermione asked the night before the winter holidays started while we were eating dinner.

"Hm?" I looked up, mouth full of chicken. Hermione's nose wrinkled in distaste and I mumbled out an apology before swallowing my food. "Yeah." I shrugged.

Because getting tickets from New York to London were too expensive, I had decided not to go home during the winter holidays, even though my mom tried to convince me that it was fine. Don't get me wrong, I missed my mother and twin brother, but I didn't want them to spend so much unnecessary money on me when it was just for another two weeks. Damn American economy for getting so expensive lately.

Aristo and Rhea were going back to Camp Half-Blood and had invited me, but I declined the invitation. It was located just a bit outside of New York, and I didn't feel comfortable being so close to Mom and Percy without telling them. The first time I'd go to Camp Half-Blood was when I'd first be there with Percy. No one else.

While I trained with Aristo and Rhea, Harry, Ron, and Hermione locked themselves up in the library, trying to figure out all they could about Nicolas Flamel. If only internet was accessible in Hogwarts. Research on Nicolas Flamel would've been a cinch.

The next day, the holidays started, and I found out that the only Gryffindors that were staying behind were just Harry, Ron, and me.  _Wow_.

"Aw man!" Ron exclaimed, throwing his whole body on the large couch in our common room. "This is the  _life_!"

I rolled my eyes, cuddling on one of the couches with a blanket. I had to agree with Ron. Having the entire girls' dormitory to myself was  _amazing_. We didn't have to take turns taking showers, and I could spend as much time in it as possible.

"I'm going for a walk," I announced, kicking off the blankets.

" _Alright_ ," Harry and Ron muttered, now engaging in a game of Wizard's Chess.

I got up from my seat, heading to the portrait hole. The Fat Lady swung open, and I headed down the moving staircases, heading for the entrance of the castle.

" _Well, well, if it isn't the_ Princess of the Seas _,"_  a taunting voice rang behind me. I angled my head, recognizing the semi-annoying voice.

"Hey, Peeves," I sighed, seeing the ghost of my cousin float by me. "Can you not call me that?"

" _Does the little_ Princess _not like that name?"_  Peeves insisted, flying above and around me.  _"Dearest cousin of mine, accept your origins."_

"I'm not denying anything," I denied. I really wasn't. "Would you like me to call you the  _Junior Messenger_?"

Peeves began to sputter above me in disbelief, trying to come up with an excuse. I smiled to myself, walking out of the castle and heading to the Black Lake.

I had found the area was the best place to be on the school grounds, though only by myself. I walked straight into the water, finding the water not even close to cold, like it should be for regular people. I had learned, when a Grindylow invited me in, that the temperature of the water did not affect me.

Before I stepped into the water, though, a squawk caught my attention. I turned around just in time to see a bird purchasing itself on a branch.

It was a pure white bird, with dark black eyes that looked straight at me. I furrowed my brows, unable to identify what the bird was. It wasn't a dove, nor a cockatoo.

" _You know, staring is pretty rude,"_  a feminine, slightly teasing voice said.

I stumbled back in shock, though, at this point, I still don't know why I was even surprised. I mean, my owl talked to me on a daily basis.

"Uh- um…" I stumbled, not really sure what to say. "... Hi?"

" _Hi,"_  the bird chirped.  _"My name's Katharos."_

"I'm Penny," I introduced myself. "Penny Jackson."

The bird let out a guttural sound, which probably would've sounded chilling to most people, but to me, oddly comforting. Since ensued, and it was kind of awkward.

"So, Katharos," I said, looking at the bird. "What kind of bird are you?"

Katharos looked at me strangely.  _"You can't tell? I'm_ obviously _a raven!"_

"But… ravens are black," I frowned, furrowing my eyebrows.

" _I thought you Half-Bloods did your research,"_  Katharos looked pointedly at me. Suddenly, this made sense. A  _raven_ , a  _white_  one at that, was talking to me.

"Is this the story about Apollo?" I inquired.  **[1]**

" _So you_ do _know your homework,"_  Katharos spread her wings and adjusted her stance.  _"You, Penny Jackson, aren't so half-bad."_

"Uh… thank you?" I cocked my head to the side, unsure of what to say. I think it was meant to be a compliment.

A lighter, more familiar  _hoot_  began to approach, and I angled my head to see Sofia landing on the branch next to Katharos with a fish in her mouth.

She swallowed the rest of the fish before opening her wings and settling herself more comfortably on the branch.

" _Good afternoon, my lady!"_  Sofia chirped happily. She cocked her head to the side at a ninety degree angle, seeing Katharos.  _"I'm Sofia."_

" _Katharos,"_  the white raven responded, looking at Sofia.

Sofia was bigger, but only narrowly so. However, Katharos was more leaner-looking, with a skinny frame. In turns of fighting, Katharos would be more like the spear while Sofia the sword.

I pushed my thoughts aside, before diving into the lake. At once, I felt the water mold with my muscles and relax me as I continued to swim, deeper and deeper into the Black Lake.

Making sure my hair was out of my way, I took in a deep breath, taking in the oxygen that I could retrieve from the little water bubbles. It was actually a neat trick – breathing underwater.

Before I could get too deep, a screech from above caught my attention. I resurfaced, and just in case someone was nearby, I kept myself wet. I wiped the water from my face, seeing Sofia circle above me.

"What is it, Sofia?"

" _Harry and Ron are on their way here,"_  Sofia reported, floating near my head.

"Oh!" I forgot about the two. I quickly walked to the shore, drying myself off easily. I quickly walked to the castle, just as Ron and Harry came stepping out.

"There you are!" Ron exclaimed. "I'm starving, but Harry here keeps insisting we find you before we go eat!" He looked pointedly at his best friend, who gave me a small smile.

"Well," I rolled my eyes, "at least  _someone_ 's polite. Thank you, Harry," I said pointedly.

The bespectacled boy smiled and replied, "You're welcome." Now that the redhead was  _finally_  able to go grab some food, he all but dragged us to the Great Hall, which was wonderfully decorated and spirited.

"Tomorrow's Christmas," Ron said, digging into a nice, juicy chicken leg. "Wonder what I'm gonna get this year. Probably another sweater from Mum."

"We don't get presents much in my household," I admitted, shrugging my shoulders. "Gabe, my stepfather, isn't very…  _spirited_."

Harry's face soured in understanding and added, "My uncle and aunt spend all their money on gifts for my cousin Dudley."

"That fat turd?" Ron frowned, recalling the stories Harry shared with us. The poor boy was practically  _abused_  by his family. Not physically, but it's gotta be quite mentally damaging. I mean, at least I had my mum – I mean, mom – and Percy.

"That's not really nice," I chuckled, before taking a sip of my pumpkin juice. It was more out of obligation than anything. Calling Dudley a "fat turd" was probably one of the nicer insults Ron had.

Ron shrugged casually, not really caring. He looked at me and said, "Don't tell me you're going to start nagging like Hermione."

Uh,  _hello_? My brother was Perseus "Percy" Jackson. My brother was  _known_  for his quirky nicknames and snark. I chose to shake my head instead, before I sighed quietly. I missed my brother. I wonder when my mom and brother would get my Christmas present for them.

Speaking of Christmas, three short days later, it was Christmas morning.

I sprung up from my bed, quickly rushing down the steps to see Ron and Harry already downstairs, dressed in their bathrooms and pajamas.

"Merry Christmas," Ron yawned sleepily, but with a happy grin on his face.

"Happy Christmas," Harry grinned at me, looking at me with his large, almond-shaped, his jet-black hair even untidier than usual from sleep.

"Merry Christmas," I echoed, smiling brightly. I looked down at the small pile of wrapped presents. I blinked, seeing two others in front of Harry and Ron. I pointed at the lone pile of three presents. "Are these mine?"

"Yeah," Ron nodded. "C'mon, let's open them!" And he proceeded to tear at the wrapping paper like a child on… wait, he  _is_  a child on Christmas morning.

I grinned and plopped myself down before happily reaching for the first present. It was written in ancient Greek, I recognized, as I could read it, and from the Solander twins.

When I pulled off the wrapping paper, I blinked, seeing the thin, wooden box. A number 7 was carved in the center and I vaguely remembered that Apollo's Cabin at Camp Half-Blood was seven.

I opened the box and read the note that was given to me:

_Penny –_

_Merry Christmas. Sorry we aren't there, but something we crafted to bring some music and light into your life._

_Your cousins,_

_Aristo and Rhea_

"How do you  _read_  that?" Ron asked, looking at the note I held in my hand. I looked down at it. It looked perfectly normal to me, but Ron said, "It just looks like a bunch of weird letters and symbols."

I shrugged, feigning nonchalance. "I dunno," I admitted. "It's just the only thing I can read."

At Harry and Ron's reluctant faces, I felt slightly bad for the fact that I couldn't tell them just  _what_  I really was. I couldn't even tell  _Percy_. Not until the time was right, at least.

I placed the note aside before pushing back the white tissue paper. My mouth dropped slightly on its own accord. It was a simple wooden flute, carved gently by hands that I knew belonged to Aristo and Rhea.

Taking it out of its box, I observed it quietly.

"Can you play it?" Harry asked curiously, and I turned my head to look at him. I saw him holding a fifty pence and blinked.

I gave a small smile before admitting, "No. It's just, the twins are really talented in the arts, so… I guess they'll teach me?" I heard a small flickering sound before looking up, the lights flickering softly. I grinned, realizing who it was. "Or someone I know."

Harry and Ron seemed to accept my answers, and I moved on to the next package, which was from Mom and Percy.

I squinted at the words that were on the page, before handing it to Harry, asking him to read it out loud. He took the paper from me before reading, "Dear Penny." He glanced up at me before continuing, "Merry Christmas. It's not much, but here's something from us to keep you warm in the winter. Remember to write back when you can and Percy says to share what you've learned when you come back. Love, Mom and Percy."

Reaching inside the box, I felt a light fabric, before pulling it out. I couldn't help but let a smile grow on my face as I pulled out the warm, fluffy blanket that my mother undoubtedly knitted. Judging from the words on the blanket, though, I was pretty sure it was Percy who wrote it, because my name was knitted in Ancient Greek.

I brought the fabric to my chest, and inhaled sharply, taking in the warm, homey feeling that my mother always gave off, along with the light smells of candy. I spotted something at the bottom of the box, and pulled out a large bag of candy.

I grinned, spotting the Reese's and Hershey's, some of my favorite chocolates, along with some licorice, Starbursts, and Skittles.

"What are those?" Ron asked curiously, looking at the candies.

"It's candy," Harry explained as I handed Ron a stick of candy.

"Why do stars burst?" Ron looked at the stick of Starbursts I had given him. "That's really weird."

"And chocolate frogs aren't?" I inquired, cocking my head to the side.

Ron looked at me confused. "Why  _wouldn't_  you have chocolate frogs?"

Harry and I exchanged looks quietly as Ron opened the Starbursts. We shook our heads, just agreeing to keep quiet and go with the redhead.

"Wow!" Ron exclaimed. "It tastes like… like… some weird strawberry."

"That's because pink Starbursts  _are_  artificial strawberry-flavored," Harry pointed to the pink wrapper that Ron was holding.

"Artificial?" Ron questioned, looking at the wrapper. "Explains why it's so weird. Why don't they just use the real fruit instead of the fake one? What  _are_  fake strawberries, anyway?"

I shrugged, not too sure myself. "Dunno. But it tastes good."

Harry went to open his next present, one from his aunt and uncle. He pulled out a coin that I recognized was a fifty-pence piece. The young boy rolled his eyes before he muttered sarcastically, "That's friendly."

Ron looked at the money with fascination, which Harry handed over wordlessly. The redhead took the coin and held it up. " _Weird_! This is  _money_?!"

"You can keep it," Harry laughed at how amused our friend was. He looked down at his presents and listed, "Hagrid and my aunt and uncle – so who sent these?" He gestured to the two other parcels.

"I think I know who that one's from," Ron commented, his face turning slightly pink as he gestured to the lumpy package Harry and I held. "My mom. I told her you didn't expect any presents and –" He abruptly stop, his face turning almost as red as his hair. "Oh,  _no_. She's made you two a Weasley sweater."

Harry tore open the package and pulled out a thick, emerald sweater and a box of fudge. I did the same, and it revealed a lovely sea-green sweater with a box of fudge, as well.

"Every year, she makes us a sweater," Ron informed us. He pulled out an equally-thick sweater, but in a different color. His face scrunched up and he said, "And mine's  _always_  maroon."

"That's really nice of her," Harry said, tasting the fudge. "This is pretty good." He handed me a package, and I looked at it curiously.

Glancing down, I saw it was from Hermione. I felt bad that I didn't get her anything for Christmas. The only things I sent off were my mother, Percy, and the twins. I was debated whether I should give something to Apollo, but what do you get a  _God_? He could have  _anything_  he could ever want.

I unwrapped the package to see a large box of assorted Sugar Quills and Straws, and shrugged, taking a Sugar Straw and biting it happily, enjoying the way the sugar and chocolate fell into my mouth.

I chewed on it as Harry unwrapped it. I watched as something flowed out, glittering a soft grey before sinking onto the floor at Harry's feet.

Ron let out a sharp gasp, a…  _fifth_ (?) Starburst falling out of his mouth, leaving a trail of saliva. …  _Ew_.

"I've heard of those," Ron whispered in fascination. "If that's what I think it is… They're really rare, and  _really_  valuable?"

"What is it?" Harry asked, bending down and picking up the cloth. It flowed like water in his hands, but I knew it was completely unrelated, because I'd feel something if it  _was_  water.

"It's an invisibility cloak," Ron's face was of pure awe. "I'm sure it is. Try it on."

Harry shrugged and threw the cloak over him, and I gaped, eyes growing wide as Ron yelped in surprise. "It  _is_!" Ron cried. "look down!"

Harry was all but a floating head, and if I didn't know he had the cloak on, I would have probably passed out. Ghosts, wizards, witches, Gods? I can handle. A floating head? Just… just no.

The bespectacled boy darted to a mirror and I followed his body while Ron searched through the parcel the cloak was in. I watched as Harry threw the cloak over his head, and he disappeared completely.

… Magic was cool.

"There's a note!" Ron cried, making the other boy suddenly take off the cloak. He ran over to Ron and took the note, dropping the cloak into my hands.

_Whoa_. It was  _really_  smooth. I threw it over my arm, and was amazed at how my arm was completely gone.

I glanced up from my admiring to see Harry with a sour, semi-confused look on his face. I handed the cloak to Ron, who was practically vibrating from where he was standing.

I placed a hand on Harry's shoulder and the boy turned to me, looking at me with semi-sad green eyes. "Something wrong?" I asked, not wanting to push too much.

"Nothing," Harry shook his head.

I opened my mouth to comment on his fib, but rapid footsteps interrupted me. I glanced up to see Fred and George storming down the stairs eagerly.

Harry took the cloak from Ron quickly, and stuffed it behind the couch quickly.

"Merry Christmas!"

"Hey, look, Harry's got a Weasley sweater, too!"

I blinked to see Fred and George wearing similar blue ones, but one had a yellow F while the other a G.

"Harry's is better than ours, though," Fred complained, looking at Harry's sweater. "She obviously makes more of an effort if you're not family."

George turned to his younger brother and asked, "Why aren't you wearing yours, Ron? Come on, get it on, they're lovely and warm."

"I hate maroon," Ron complained, but put it on, nonetheless.

"I'm going to put my presents away," Harry announced, gathering the wrapping paper and subtly taking the cloak in his arms.

I bit my lip before gathering my own presents. "Same," I announced, before bounding upstairs with my arms (and mouth because of my second Sugar Straw) full.

I pushed open the door to my dormitory open and walked over to my bed. I placed my presents down on my bed before reaching up to take the straw out of my mouth, as I was drooling. Whirling around, a strange, strangled cry escaped my lips as my heart pounded furiously in my chest as adrenaline filled my veins.

"Oh Gods!" I cried, my free hand falling to my chest, over my heart. "What are you even  _doing_  here? This is the  _Girls'_  Dormitory! Wait,  _how'd you even get_ _ **in**_?!"

Apollo, who was sitting at my desk casually, with one leg crossed over the other, arms crossed, smirked, amusement filling his too-handsome face. "Really, Penny, I'm sure you know the answer to that."

I frowned deeply.  _Stupid God._

Apollo made a  _tsk_ ing sound before he scolded teasingly, "Ah,  _ah_ , little one. I'd watch what you even  _think_  around a God." He stood up, towering over me by easily almost two feet, as I was only four-eight while he was probably six-five or so. I stood right under where his sternum probably ended.

He bent down so he stood just slightly above me, and I blushed at the proximity. "You're lucky I'm so forgiving, though."

"Really?" I blurted out without even thinking. "The stories of your curses say different."

This caused the God to stiffen slightly, before quickly relaxing. "Oh, yeah? Like which ones?"

"Uh… I'd rather not offend you," I muttered. "I don't want you getting mad at me."

Apollo threw his head back and laughed, the musical sound echoing off the walls melodically, and I closed my eyes, taking in the beautiful sound. When it stopped, I slowly opened my eyes, and the blond man looked down at me with his beautiful, sky-colored eyes.

He placed a finger under my chin, forcing me to look up at him. "Penny," he said, "trust me and believe me when I say that you won't ever make me mad enough to curse you for eternity."

I nodded quietly, taking in the God's words. "Well, there's Midas… and… you've even cursed your own son before."

"Midas was because he was absurd for even  _thinking_  Pan was better than  _me_ , the  _God_  of Music, at  _music_ ," Apollo rolled his sky blue eyes. He sat down on the top of my desk and continued, "Halcyon… well, it's because he went against Fate." He looked down at me sternly and stated, "And you  _never_  go against Fate, Penny. Here's a word of advice: If a God tells you something, do  **not**  disobey them. Do you understand? There will be severe consequences going against us, and I don't want to curse you,  _glakia mou_."  **[2]**

I blushed at the term of endearment but nodded, heeding his words. Don't piss off the Gods. That should be easy enough, right?

"Actually, we're quite petty beings," Apollo said casually, crossing his ankles, holding up a single digit. "My father, Zeus, is one of the most prominent ones." Thunder boomed in the distance and Apollo called out, "Sorry! But Dionysus chased this off-limits wood nymph twice, so Zeus punished him so he has to watch over Camp Half-Blood for a hundred years  _and_ can't drink any wine  _or_  grow grapevines."

"But… he's the God of Wine," I pointed out, furrowing my brows in confusion.

Apollo smiled and walked over to me, tapping the tip of my nose teasingly. "Exactly,  _glakia mou_. Anyway, enough of your Greek lesson, that's my children's job. Why don't you open your window?"

I looked at the Sun God curiously, but did as he said. I unlatched the window, and immediately, my instincts told me to duck.

So I did.

I dropped to the ground just as something soared into the room. I instinctively pulled out my wand, only to see it circle the room once before landing on Apollo's outstretched arm.

"… Katharos," I recognized the white raven.

" _Don't blast me,"_  Katharos said teasingly, looking at me with her dark eyes.  _"We're not fond of being blasted at."_

"That one damned right deserved it," Apollo muttered darkly, before quickly throwing me a bright smile. "Hold out your arm, Penny."

I blinked, but stretched out my wand-wielding arm. Immediately, Katharos spread open her foot-long wingspan and flew over to my arm. She leaned down, pecking at my hand affectionately, and my free hand reached up to stroke her small head.

"Merry Christmas, Penny," Apollo said, the corner of his lips rising as he watched me interact with the animal.

"Wh – What?" I paused in stroking Katharos's head.

"Merry Christmas," Apollo repeated patiently. "She's your gift."

"Y – You're giving me a white raven?"

"Unless Katharos is something else," Apollo smiled gently. He walked over to me and placed a large hand on my head. "She'll watch over you when I can't."

"Why me? Why not Rhea or Aristo?"

Apollo gave me an unreadable smile before telling me, "You'll find out in time. But for now, why don't you enjoy the rest of Christmas. Close your eyes,  _glakia mou_."

I did as he ordered and felt a warm light wash over me as the room around me brightened. When the warmth disappeared, and opened my eyelids. The room was completely empty, void of any life except for Katharos and me… and the window was still open and snow was getting inside.

The rest of Christmas passed by uneventfully. The great thing, was what Harry informed Ron and I of.

"You could have woken me up," Ron pouted, crossing his arms as we sat at the breakfast table.

"You can come tonight," Harry suggested. "I'm going back. I want to show you the mirror." He looked at me and edited, "Both of you. I want you guys to meet my mom and dad."

"I'd like that," I smiled softly.  _Maybe I'd be able to meet my father, too._

"And I want to see all your family," Harry said eagerly. "All the Weasleys," he turned to Ron. "You'll be able to show me your other brothers and everyone." He turned to me and added, "I'd love to meet your brother, too."

"You can see them any old time," Ron waved off. "Just come to my house this summer. Anyway, maybe it only shows dead people. Shame about not finding Flamel, though. Have some bacon or something, why aren't you eating anything?"

Harry developed this constipated look over his skinny face and I waved a hand over his face while Ron spoke.

"Are you all right? You look odd."

Harry then shook his head, clearing his thoughts. He turned to me and asked, "So what's the bird about?" He pointed at Katharos, who was standing in the middle of the table between Ron and I, munching on some bird seeds.

"She's a Christmas present," I smiled softly.

"What kind of bird is she?" Ron bent down to take a good look at Katharos. She maturely ignored him and continued to eat. "I've never seen anything like her."

"A raven," I explained. "A white one."

"An albino?" Harry suggested.

I gave him a soft smile and responded, "You could say that."

I shivered at how cold the empty hallway was. Even squeezed in-between Harry and Ron underneath this small cloak, I was freezing.

"I'm freezing," Ron voiced. "Let's forget it and go back."

" _No_!" Harry whispered harshly. "I know it's here somewhere."

"We've been walking around for about an hour, Harry," I groaned quietly. "I swear to the Heavens if we don't find it in the next half hour, I'm walking back, cloak or no cloak."

"There it is!" Harry pointed out, before pushing open a door near a suit of armor. Harry quickly threw the cloak back once we were inside the empty room and ran towards a large mirror.

I glanced at the mirror he stood before, trying to read the message that was engraved in the mirror above, but the words just floated around, making me see:  _I show not your face but your hearts desire_. I blinked. Did I just read that correctly?

"What the heck is  _Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi_?" Ron asked me choppily, eyes squinting as he read the message.

I pursed my lips, debating if I should tell him what I saw. If what  _I_  read was correct, then this was a mirror that reflected your heart's greatest desire. And Harry's? Harry's was seeing his parents.

Harry turned to us and grinned brightly at us, and my heart clenched in sympathy. "See?!"

Ron squinted and said, "I can't see anything."

"Look in it properly," Harry advised, stepping aside. "Go on, stand where I am."

Ron walked over to the mirror, standing before it. He then straightened up and exclaimed, "Look at me!"

"Can you see all your family standing around you?" Harry bounced on the balls of his feet, giddy with excitement.

"No," Ron shook his head. "I'm alone, but I'm different. I look older! And I'm Head Boy! … And,  _bloody hell_ , I'm holding the House Cup and the Quidditch cup.  _Blimey_ , I'm Quidditch captain, too!" He tore his eyes away from the mirror and looked at Harry and I. "Do you think this mirror shows the future?"

"How can it?" Harry inquired. "All my family are dead. Penny," he said, turning to look at me. "You have a look."

Ron stepped aside for me, and I cautiously walked forward. I stepped over to the mirror slowly. I stopped when I was right before it, and glanced up.

My own sea-green eyes stared back at me, but the face was more mature, with less baby fat and a more heart-shaped face. My hair flowed over my shoulders in dark waves, falling over my decently-sized chest and thin, but toned frame.

Arms suddenly circled around my mirrored, older image, and a gentle smile appeared on her face. I followed her gaze up to see Apollo, looking exactly like he did right now. The Apollo in the reflection smiled at me before movement caught my eyes, and I glanced down, before they widened in shock.

My stomach had somehow expanded in the time Apollo had arrived, and it was now swollen with a large bump… like… like I was pregnant.

Another movement caught my eyes and I saw a female step out from the side. She looked no older than twelve or thirteen, but her eyes held centuries of knowledge. With her flowing auburn hair and her eyes as silvery like the moon, with a bow around her, I recognized who she was: Artemis, the Goddess of the Hunt and the Wilderness, Chastity and Maidenhood, and the Moon.

More movement caught my eye and three figures stepped out.

Identical sea-green eyes just like mine sparkled back at me as a handsome, young man beamed at me, his dark locks falling over his eyes.  _Percy_.

My mother, looking as patient and beautiful as ever, smiled back at me proudly.

I then looked at the large, tall figure behind her, and my eyes met similar sea-green eyes as me. He beamed at me, his eyes crinkling while his white teeth shown behind his neatly trimmed dark beard. Seeing the trident in his right hand, I recognized him immediately as well:  _Poseidon_ , God of the Sea, Storms, Earthquakes, and Horses, King of Atlantis, The Earthshaker, The Stormbringer, and my biological father.

It was interesting to see how my image in the mirror was so calm amongst three of the twelve Gods that sat upon thrones in Olympus. And one of them was a member of the Big Three.

But I looked so… at peace. Apollo's mirrored hand rubbed over my reflection's swollen stomach, and I saw him look down at my reflection before bending down, resting his forehead against my own.

"-ny! Penny!" I heard a voice call before a hand snapped in front of me. I snapped out of my daze and turned quickly, seeing Harry and Ron looking at me slightly worried. "We've been calling you for five minutes, Penny," the redhead spoke. "What'd you see?"

I glanced back at the mirror, to see the older me walking away, hand-in-hand with Apollo while the others surrounded them. The older me turned around, her flowing hair falling over her back, before smiling at me.

"I… I don't even know myself," I sighed, not able to comprehend what was going on. I reached up, rubbing my temple. Was my heart's desire to be with Apollo? No, it can't be. I don't even know what I want for my birthday next year. There must've been some mistake. My demigod powers probably did something to the mirror.

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but then there was a sudden noise.

"Quick!" Ron exclaimed, throwing the cloak over us just as Mrs. Norris crept in. I held my breath, along with Ron and Harry, for Zeus-knows-how-long until Mrs. Norris turned around, and left.

"This isn't safe. She might have gone for Filch. I bed she head us. Come on," Ron whispered, before we made our way back to the dormitories.

When I got back to my room, I noticed that Katharos was back. She had left some time after dinner, and I let her do whatever she pleased. Her dark eyes looked at me as I entered the dorm, closing the door behind me.

"Did you see the Mirror of Erised?" she asked me.

"The Mirror of Erised?" I repeated.

Katharos nodded, spreading her wings as she adjusted herself on the perch Apollo had left behind for her. "It is a mirror both Eros and Psykhe had blessed."

"Why did they do that?"

"Because Psykhe liked the idea of it and if you ever want to convince Eros to do something, then you get Psykhe on your side. He's a bit on the rough side, but he could never say no to Psykhe."

"So, even with me being a half-blood, it'll still work?"

"Of course."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **[1]** Apollo was once in love with a mortal woman named Coronis. She was pregnant with his child, so Apollo sent a pure-white raven (or crow in some stories) to look after her. Apollo later found out that Coronis had betrayed him with a man named Ischys and sent Artemis (or him in some stories) to kill her. Angry at the raven for not gouging the man Ischys's eyes out, Apollo cursed the bird so badly the ashes made the raven's body stain black. However, he soon regretted it, and saved his unborn child, and sent him to Chiron to raise. The child would later grow to be Asclepius, the God of Medicine and Healing, and that is why ravens (or crows) are black.
> 
> **[2]** _Glakia mou_ , written in Greek as γλυκιά μου translates to "my sweet" and can be use as "sweetheart." If anyone can speak Greek, please confirm! I've just had to Google and triple check in forums/websites!
> 
> PLEASE VISIT TRACYLAY ON FANFICTION.NET TO PARTICIPATE IN MY GIVEAWAY FOR MY READERS.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **_"I was just telling him the truth."_ **

I planted Tempest on the ground as I gasped for breath, my heart thumping heavily and my head pulsing as I attempted to gather as much oxygen into my body as I could.

Aristo stood a few feet away, smirking at me as a drop of sweat dribbled down the side of his face. He wiped it away with the back of his hand before he placed his bow down on a table that materialized.

"Not bad," Aristo breathed out. He closed his eyes, and a few seconds later, his fatigue disappeared. The only note that he was even tired before was his sweat-stained uniform.

I took in a deep breath, and concentrated. I summoned the moisture that had gathered around me and willed it to disappear easily. I was still trying to steady my breathing, which was almost there, but my arms were sore like no tomorrow.

"My Gods, you smell," Rhea wrinkled her beautiful, straight nose as she looked at her twin.

"What are you? A daughter of Aphrodite?" Aristo retorted, before walking over to me. He held out a hand and I took it.

I felt a warmth spread through my body as my fatigues started to fade away, while at the same time, Aristo's sweat started to disappear from sight, his shirt resuming the normal white cotton color it originally was.

I stood up straight and brushed off some dust that had got onto my clothes and pulled Tempest from the ground. The floor immediately repaired itself from the crack I had left. I reverted it back to its regular form and capped it, placing the weapon back into my pocket.

"You're getting a lot better," Rhea praised, walking over to us. She looked down at the broken arrows that rested on the ground cut into pieces. "You should work on your close, hand-to-hand combat more, though."

"Aristo has half a feet over me," I pointed out. "Should you fight me, since you're closer to my height?"

At 5'0, she was closer to my height than Aristo's 5'2. She was only four inches taller than me as opposed to Aristo's six.

Rhea shook her head firmly. "You should be adept at fighting those larger than you. In the chance that you  _do_  fight a real fight, it'll most likely be with a monster, just like that Cretan Bull."

"Minotaurs, centaurs, dragons, chimeras, giants, harpies, sphinxes… they'll be bigger than you, Penny. And they  _will_  take you down if they see the chance. Heroes on quests have died because of monsters. As the daughter of one of the Big Three, there will undoubtedly be quests you'll have to go on, Penny. We need to prepare you for that, because, I happen to like you in one piece." Aristo reached out and affectionately messed up my hair.

I gave a small smile and reached around to hug Aristo. The older boy returned the gesture easily, and when he released me, I went to hug Rhea as well.

We exited the Room of Requirement together, before we parted so I could head up to Gryffindor Tower. I waved goodbye to them, before heading up the staircase before they could change.

I gave the Fat Lady the password before the portrait swung open, allowing me entrance to the common room.

" _Really_  break your leg," I heard Ron say as I walked towards him, Hermione, and Harry.

"… Do I want to know what's going on?" I asked, taking a seat next to Harry on the couch. The bespectacled boy looked a nauseous shade of green. "What's going on?"

"Snape's refereeing the next Quidditch game against Slytherin," Ron informed us. "And you know how much he  _hates_  Harry."

I frowned, recalling the game with Harry's cursed broomstick. While the three were  _sure_  that Snape was the one cursing Harry, Quirrell was pretty suspicious, too. Yeah, the man was meek as a mouse, but sometimes, it was the unexpected ones.

_Expect the unexpected_ , Aristo and Rhea informed me.  _It's a cheesy line, but always be ready._

Even if Snape was refereeing, I voiced my opinion. "Even so, it'd be wrong for Harry to back out, anyway. Slipping out is the coward's way out. If a task is given to him, he should take it and do his best to complete it."

"And thinking like  _that_  will get yourself killed, Penny," Hermione pointed out. "It's safer to assess everything than to just jump in."

"But sometimes, you can't get any information  _until_  you jump in," I replied simply, merely stating a fact. It was why our bodies were wired with ADHD – so we can react fast.

Hermione huffed, crossing her arms, and I felt slightly bad, but it was the truth.

Harry looked back and forth from between Hermione and I before saying, "I can't back out, anyway. There isn't a reserve Seeker. If I back out, Gryffindor can't play at all."

At that very moment, Neville suddenly ran into the common room. Well,  _ran_  was the incorrect term. He was hopping… I recognized it as the Leg-Locker Curse. Others in the room burst out laughing while I furrowed my eyebrows, disturbed.

My eyes widened when I saw Neville stumble, and without even thinking, I shot forward, grabbing the blond by his arms and steadied him easily.

"I'll do the counter-curse," Seamus volunteered, pulling out his wand.

"No!" Neville exclaimed. "That's all I need, you just set my bloody kneecaps on fire."

"I don't appreciate your insinuation, Longbottom!" Seamus huffed. "Besides, if anyone cares to notice, my eyebrows have grown back!"

Hermione ignored the conversation and hopped up, performing a perfect counter-curse on the boy on the floor. At once, Neville's legs detached from each other and he pushed himself away me shakily.

"What happened?" Hermione demanded, as I helped Neville sit down with us.

"M – Malfoy," Neville stuttered out. "I met him outside the library. He said he'd been looking for someone to practice that on."

"Go to Professor McGonagall!" Hermione exclaimed. "Report him!"

Neville merely shook his head. "I don't want more trouble," he mumbled out, meek.

"You've got to stand up to him, Neville!" Ron urged. "He's used to walking all over people, but that's no reason to lie down in front of him and make it easier."

Neville shook his head, close to crying. "There's no need to tell me I'm not brave enough to be in Gryffindor," he said. "Malfoy's already done that."

Harry shifted next to me, and I saw him pull out a Chocolate Frog. He handed it to the plump boy, who took it gently. "You're worth twelve of Malfoy," Harry told him. "The Sorting Hat chose you for Gryffindor, didn't it? And where's Malfoy? In stinking Slytherin."

I smiled gently when I saw Neville smile softly, unwrapping the chocolate frog.

"Thanks, Harry," he said, looking at the bespectacled boy gratefully. "I think I'll go to bed. D'you want the card? You collect them, don't you?"

"Yeah," Harry said, taking it. "Thanks."

Neville got up, thanking all of us, and I gave him a reassuring pat on the back. He walked away, and I turned to Harry. "That was great of you to say that."

The dark-haired boy's cheeks got slightly pink, strangely enough, and he looked away so he didn't make eye contact with me. "It was nothing. I was just telling him the truth."

"Well, nonetheless, it was still great." I smiled at Harry, who looked down his Famous Wizard card.

He sighed and said, "Dumbledore again… He was the first one I ever–" He cut himself off with a sharp gasp before exclaiming in a whisper, " _I've found him_!" to us.

He showed us the card and said, "I've found Flamel! I  _told_  you I'd read the name somewhere before! I read it on the train coming here – listen to this: 'Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood,  _and is work on alchemy with his partner, Nicholas Flamel_ '!"

Suddenly, Hermione hopped to her feet. It was so sudden that I jumped back. "Stay here!" she ordered before sprinting away up to our room.

I glanced at Ron and Harry, sharing equally confused looks. I glanced back up at the sound of rapid footsteps and saw Hermione come barreling down the stairs with a giant book that was practically the size of her small body.

"I never thought to look in here!" she whispered to us happily. "I got this out of the library weeks ago for a bit of light reading."

" _Light_?" Ron echoed incredulously, looking at the book she dropped in the center of all of us. The bushy haired girl ignored him, flipping through the ginormous book.

I leaned back. I wasn't going to be able to read it, anyway.

"I knew it! I  _knew_  it!" she cried excitedly.

"Are we allowed to speak yet?" Ron grumbled, but was ignored again.

"'Nicolas Flamel'," she read, "'is the only known maker of the  _Philosopher's Stone_ '!"

"… The  _what_?" Harry, Ron, and I asked at once.

"Oh,  _honestly_ , don't you three  _read_?" Hermione sighed.  _Actually, I wasn't able to read regular books, thank you very much._  "Look," she pushed the book towards us. "Read that, there." She pointed at a section.

I tried, I really did, but the words started blurring together and started moving around, along with having a strange arrangement. I blinked, rubbing my sea-green eyes. "Could someone read that, please? I can't understand it."

My three companions looked up from the book and Hermione asked, "Really?"

I nodded. "I'm dyslexic. I can't read anything. My textbooks are charmed so I can read them."

"What about in class?" Ron asked. "You seem to read the board just fine."

"That's charmed for my eyes as well," I admitted. I had expressed my concerns about reading in class with Professor McGonagall, but she had assured me that all the professors have charmed their writing utensils so I could read what they wrote. "No one knows but you guys and the twins."

"How do the twins know, too?" Ron questioned curiously, cocking his head to the side.

"All three of us are dyslexic," I informed them. "We can't read proper English. They also have ADHD like me." I had already explained to them what ADHD was the first week here, because I was jittery all the time when we would sit together for a couple hours, making me move around. "So… uh, can one of you guys read for me?"

Harry read the short passage for me, which was about the creation of the Philosopher's Stone, which made the Elixir of Life, allowing the drinker to be immortal. I thanked Harry, the topic from before now restored.

"See?" Hermione questioned. "The dog must be guarding Flamel's Philosopher's Stone! I bet he asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him, because they're friends and he knew someone was after it, that's why he wanted the Stone moved out of Gringotts!"

"A stone that makes gold and stops you from ever dying!" Harry exclaimed. "No wonder Snape's after it.  _Anyone_  would want it."

I bit the inside of my lips to stop me from blurting out that I could think of a few beings that wouldn't want it.

"And no wonder we couldn't find Flamel in that  _Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry_. He's not exactly recent if he's six-hundred and sixty-five, is he?"

"That's not really funny, Ron."

"Ah, shut up."

I won't fill you in with the boring details (not that I was even paying attention), but Harry  _did_  decide to participate in the Quidditch match against Hufflepuff.

I leaned against the railing, bored, watching the players fly around. Everyone was screaming around us, but Aristo, Rhea, and I just looked on with equal blank stares.

"Capture the Flag is a  _lot_  more interesting than this," Aristo voiced his opinion. Rhea nodded in agreement, and I just shrugged, having not participated in the game before.

All of a sudden, I heard a  _thud_  and whirled around.

There were bodies rolling on the ground, but no one was paying any attention, focused on the Quidditch game. I tapped Aristo's arm, who in turn caught Rhea's attention.

At once, I went over to the flurry of white-blond and red. I easily broke the two scuffling boys away and pushed them away from each other.

Aristo easily handled Crabbe and Goyle while Rhea helped Neville up.

"Calm down, Ron," I advised while I held a dazed Malfoy away. Blood was dripping onto my hands from their equally bloody noses, though Malfoy looked worse for wear.

"Ron! Ron! Where are you?!" Hermione's voice rang from the cheering crowd. The game's over! Harry's won! We've won! Gryffindor is in the lead!"

Ron broke from my grip and I released Malfoy, who huffed and stormed away with Crabbe and Goyle at his heels. I looked down at my bloodied hands and frowned. Making sure no one was paying attention, I gathered moisture from the air around me and washed my hands clean of the red liquid, before drying them.

I walked over to join Aristo and Rhea, who were making sure Neville was okay. Seeing a spot of red on Aristo's uniform, I subtly ran my hand over it, washing and drying it quickly.

"We'll meet up with Cedric," Rhea informed. "And take Neville to the Madam Pomfrey." Aristo hoisted Neville onto his back easily, and I nodded.

I walked off, joining Hermione and Ron, who were looking for Harry. We searched for a while, and when we stepped into a clearing inside the castle, Harry came striding out towards us.

"Harry, where have you  _been_?!" Hermione exclaimed.

"We won!" Ron cried. "You won! We won!" Ron patted Harry on the back. "And I gave Malfoy a black eye, and Neville tried to take on Crabbe and Goyle single-handed! The twins took him to Madam Pomfrey – talk about showing Slytherin! Everyone's waiting for you in the common room, we're having a party, and Fred and George stole some cakes and stuff from the kitchens!"

"Never mind that now," Harry waved off. Let's find an empty room, you'll wait 'til you hear this…"

We entered an empty room, and Harry quickly filled us in on what he overheard. Snape and Quirrell were talking about the Philosopher's Stone, how Quirrell knew how to get past Fluffy, and basically knew everything else.

"So you mean the Stone's only safe as long as Quirrell stands up to Snape?" Hermione inquired.

"It'll be gone by next Tuesday," Ron groaned, running a hand through his messed up red hair.

The four of us continued to talk, coming up with a plan to take a detour to the room everyday just to hear and check to see if Fluffy was still there. After making sure we had a  _basic_  plan, the three decided it was time to celebrate Gryffindor's fastest win.

I thought about something and said, "You guys go on ahead. I just remembered I have something to do."

All three of them exchanged curious looks, but nodded. They walked off, talking amongst themselves, while I headed outside to the Black Lake.

I took off my black robe, draping it over a low branch, before walking towards the water. I stepped inside the water, feeling it flow between my legs, but not wetting me at all. I walked until I was waist-deep into the water, before I scooped up some water.

I let the liquid flow between my fingers, back into the lake, before placing my palm just above the water. I closed my eyes, concentrating. I imagined a long, flowing stream and raised my arm up.

My eyes snapped open and I looked just to see a long, flowing strand over water. I flicked my wrist and it danced above and around me, before it fell down back into the water with a splash.

Using both hands, I imagined a large wall of water appearing for me, and felt the water between my fingers. I breathed in before exhaling deeply, and willed the water to rise. I could feel the weight of it, even though I wasn't even touching it, as a wall of clear water formed above me.

Feeling slightly tired, I let the wall collapse, and felt the rush when the water fell over me, coating me in a soft, gentle hug, but otherwise, not disturbing me. I traced my fingers over the water, creating small ripples, before an idea formed in my head.

You could make snowballs, right?

How about water-balls?

I scooped up some water, and was surprised to see it was in the form of a solid sphere. I whirled around, launching the ball towards the land. It hit a tree trunk with a  _splash_ , and a giddy excitement filled through me. How  _cool_!

A small giggle escaped my lips and I clapped my hands joyfully.

"You know, you can do  _so_  much more than that, right?" a teasing voice pointed out.

I screamed in shock, not expecting the voice at all. I fell back in surprise, landing in the water. I held my breath on instinct, but realized it was dumb to. I sat underwater for a while, watching a couple of toads swim by.

Realizing I was under the water for a while, I resurfaced to glare at the being at interrupted me.

Aristo smirked at me in amusement, and I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest. He sat above a huge boulder near the edge of the lake, leaned back on his palms with the sleeves of his pants rolled up to his knees, soaking his calves and feet in the nice water. His shoes and socks were discarded a few feet away, I noticed, before I turned my attention back to him.

He pushed himself up and he looked at me, "Hey, check this out." He held out a hand, his palm facing upward. I looked at it for a few seconds, and right before my eyes, a white ball of energy formed in the palm of his hand. He wiggled his long fingers, and the ball danced around in the air.

"Cool!" I exclaimed, swimming over to where he was. I got closer and then was near him in the water, looking at the ball of light.

"Rhea can do it, too," Aristo informed me. "It's really rare, but sometimes, Apollo blesses his kids every hundred years or so to have photokinesis. Kinda like Hephaestus with pyrokinesis. Only a few of his kids can control fire. I'm sure that since you're a child of the Big Three, you can do a lot more than just water balls and shields, though."

"Do you really think so?" I asked, cocking my head to the side to look up at the thirteen-year-old.

"Pretty positive," Aristo nodded his head, his blond bangs falling over his eyes. "You can possible create storms and earthquakes, too, but… uh… I don't think we should practice those. Our powers are limited compared to yours, but we can help you project them quickly without too much concentration. Soon, it'll be second-nature for you to summon water."

I nodded and the older Solander twin ordered me to step back. "All right," Aristo said. He pointed at a distance and asked, "See that tree over there, with the branch dangling? Across the lake?"

It was pretty far away, and took a while to see, but I nodded once I saw it.

"I want you to form something that will break it. A water strand, a water ball, it's up to you, but I want you to break it. It should be fairly easy, since we're surrounded by water. It'll be more difficult when we practice  _away_  from water."

I nodded and pulled my hand out of the water, a steady flow of water following my hand movements. I flicked my wrist, willing it to go towards the broken branch. I watched as the strand propelled above the water powerfully, creating small ripples in the lake as it flew by at an amazing speed.

From a distance, I heard a small  _crack_  as the strand of water snapped against the branch, breaking it. The twig fell to the ground, broken, and the water spilled onto the dirt at the tree's trunk.

"That's pretty cool," I said, turning to look at Aristo.

"It is," he agreed, nodding his head. "Check this out," he told me. He summoned a ball of light in his hand and launched it. I watched as it propelled itself through the air, across the lake, to the other side.

I heard cracks as it propelled through the small branches of the forest, before it shot up into the air. I followed it with my eyes and in my peripheral vision, noticed Aristo was moving hand, controlling it. The ball of light crashed into the water, creating a  _splash_ , before it disappeared in the darkness of the lake.

"Hey, Aristo," I called, turning to the older boy.

"What's up?"

"Why do you think living forever is such a temptation?"

Aristo's handsome face scrunched up in confusion. "Um… I guess it's because you don't have to be scared of dying, why?"

I opened my mouth to tell him, but then shrugged it off. It wasn't really  _my_  secret to tell, per say. It was Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I's secret to share, and if I was going to tell them we'd all have to agree. It was just like telling how Aristo, Rhea, and I were demigods. We had to decide together.

"Just a thought," I answered.

The boy looked at me quietly, contemplating. He decided to not say anything, and proceeded to teach me how to control my hydrokinesis better.


	10. Norbert

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **_The man had a Cerberus that he called_ Fluffy _. Of_ course _he always wanted a dragon._**

I didn't miss the obvious sighs of relief that came from Ron and Harry when I went to join them and Hermione at a table in the library.

"Hey," I greeted, placing my books on the table.

"Where have you been?" Hermione asked, looking up from her furious writing. "Exams are just around the corner and you're always disappearing for hours on end!"

"I was with the twins," I shrugged, sliding into the seat next to her, across from Ron. "They were helping me with some Herbology," I lied easily. But… then again, they were teaching me about plants and poisons, so I  _guess_  it was a  _type_  of Herbology.

"What's Ditanny, then?" Harry sighed, looking at his textbook. "It's taking forever for me to find the bloody thing."

 _Oh_. I actually knew this one. "It's a healing herb that can heal wounds, and after placing it on, the wound will look several days old. Applying it raw can heal shallow wounds immediately."

"Oh," Harry said, turning back to the page he was originally on in the textbook. "Thanks."

"No problem," I responded.

"Hagrid!" Ron exclaimed suddenly. "What are you doing in the library?"

I saw the large man shuffle, and my immediately fell onto a book that quickly disappeared behind his large back.

"Jus' lookin'," he responded. "An' what're you lot up ter?" His eyes narrowed and he questioned, "Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?"

Ron waved a hand. "Oh, we found out who he is ages ago. And we know what that dog's guarding. It's a Philosopher's St–"

"Shhh!" Hagrid hushed, looking over his shoulder to make sure no one was eavesdropping. "Don' go shoutin' about it. What's the matter with yeh?!"

"There are a few things we wanted to ask you," Harry pointed out, looking up at the large man. "About what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy–"

" _SHHHHHH_!" Hagrid hissed, holding a large, sausage-sized finger to his bearded face. "Listen – come an' see me later. I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbittin' about it in here. Students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh."

We all exchanged looks and nodded in agreement. "See you later, then," Harry bade the man, before Hagrid walked off.

I turned to the three and we leaned over the table, looking at each other. "Did you see that he was holding something behind his back?" I asked them.

All three nodded and Hermione asked, "What was he hiding behind his back?"

"Do you think it had something to do with the Stone?" Harry suggested, his green eyes wide.

"I'm going to see what section he was in," Ron volunteered. I think he just didn't want to work on anymore schoolwork, to be honest. He darted off, and came back a couple minutes later with a pile of books, throwing them haphazardly on the table. "Dragons!" he reported in a loud whisper. "Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons! Look at these:  _Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide_."

"Hagrid's always wanted a dragon," Harry informed us. "He told me so the first time I ever met him."

I wasn't surprised, to be honest. The man had a Cerberus that he called  _Fluffy_. Of  _course_  he always wanted a dragon. I wouldn't be surprised if he had giants as companions or siblings. I mean, technically, some Cyclopes are my siblings, since their father is Poseidon, too.

"But it's against our laws," Ron pointed out. "Dragon breed was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It's hard to stop Muggles from noticing us if we're keeping dragons in the back garden. Anyway, you can't tame dragons, it's dangerous. You should see the burns Charlie's got off wild ones in Romania."

"But there aren't wild dragons in  _Britain_?"

"Of course there are," Ron pointed out. "Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks. The Ministry of Magic has a job hushing them up, I can tell you. Our kind have to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them, to make them forget.

"What's this got anything to do with Hagrid?" I asked, cocking my head to the side. It made me wonder if there were dragons in America, too. There probably were, to be honest, but they'd probably hidden by the Mist that the twins had informed me about. The Mist is a force controlled by Hecate, the Goddess of Magic and Witchcraft, Crossroads, and the Mist, that made regular humans see anything mythological as just regular things. Us demigods were able to see past it, but sometimes, it could be strong enough to fool us.

"That's a really good question," Harry said. He closed his book. "Let's find out."

Much to Hermione's displeasure, the boys packed up their books. Outvoted, she packed up, as well, and we set off to Hagrid's hut after putting our stuff away in the dormitory.

As Harry knocked, I observed the hut. It was, for some odd reason, completely closed off. Usually Hagrid had at least a window open, or even the drapes pulled back. This time, the curtains were completely closed.  _"Who is it?"_  Hagrid's muffled voice came from behind the door.

"It's us," Harry responded.

The door quickly opened, and we were ushered in. The door was closed faster than I could comprehend, and if it weren't for the fact that this was  _Hagrid_ , I would've had my hand on Tempest or my wand. Probably Tempest. I was better at combat than magic. Heat washed over me and I frowned. Harry, Ron, and Hermione took off their cloaks, but since I had a high heat resistance, I wasn't hot yet. It was definitely stifling, though.

"So, yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?" Hagrid inquired turning to us.

"Yes," Harry nodded affirmatively, not wasting any time. "We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Philosopher's Stone apart from Fluffy."

Hagrid frowned at Harry. "O' course I can't," he told us. "Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn't tell yeh if I could. That Stone's here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts – I s'ppose yeh've worked that out an' all? Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy."

"Oh, come on, Hagrid," Hermione attempted to coax the man. "You might not want to tell us, but you  _do_  know. You know everything that goes on around here." I noticed the large man's beard twitched, and couldn't help but smirk. "We only wondered who had  _done_  the guarding, really. We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."

Damn. Flattery will get you anywhere, it seems.

"Well," Hagrid began, and I knew he had cracked. "I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that. Let's see… he borrowed Fluffy from me, then some o' the teachers did enchantments… Professor Sprout, Professor Flitwick, Professor McGonagall, Professor Quirrell, an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone…" Hagrid waggled a finger, trying to remember who it was. "Oh yeah, Professor Snape."

" _Snape_?"

"Yeah. Yer still not on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped  _protect_  the Stone. He's not about ter steal it."

I sighed heavily, seeing the thoughts running through the trio's faces. They needed to work on their poker faces more. Yeah, Snape was a suspicious guy, but I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I didn't sense any sort of evil from him. Yeah, he was unpleasant to be around, but I had worse vibes around Quirrell than Snape.

I leaned back in my seat, listening quietly to Harry conversing with Hagrid. It wasn't until Harry asked to open a window did I refocus towards them completely. Hagrid looked at Harry sympathetically and replied, "Sorry, Harry, can't." He glanced over at the fire, and I followed his gaze to see a huge, black egg underneath the kettle in the center of the fire.

 _A Dragon egg_ , I quickly realized.

"Where did you get it, Hagrid?" Ron asked, walking over to the fire and crouching over it. "It must've cost you a fortune."

"Won it," Hagrid replied. "Las' night. I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' got into a game o' cards with a stranger. Think he was pretty glad ter get rid of it, to be honest."

Hermione looked at Hagrid. "But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?"

Hagrid pulled out a large book from his bed. "Well, I've bin doin' some readin'," he admitted. "Got this outta the library:  _Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit_. It's a bit outta date, o' course, but it's all in here. Keep the eggs in the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on 'em, see, an' when it hatches, feet it on a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. An' see here, how ter recognize diff'rent eggs. This says I got 'ere a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them."

I recognized that as one of the few dragons that ate water mammals. I cocked my head to the side. Well, this was an unfortunate turn of events. The dragon and I would  _not_  get along, it seemed.

"Hagrid, you live in a  _wooden house_ ," Hermione said pointedly, but was ignored. The man continued to happily hum a cheerful tune, stoking the fire.

I sighed heavily, and the four of us got up to leave the hut. Ron turned to me and asked, "How did you not boil in there? It was probably forty degrees in there!" I quickly did the conversion in my head, seeing as I used Fahrenheit.

"I don't think it was  _that_  hot, Ron," I rolled my eyes. "But I just have a high heat tolerance, I suppose."

"You never seem to get cold, either," Hermione pointed out. "You just wore your uniform and a sweater in January, when it was  _snowing_."

"I have a high cold resistance, too," I shrugged. I couldn't tell them that it was because I was the daughter of Poseidon that I was weather-resistant. Hermione looked at me suspiciously, but nodded, reluctantly accepting my vague explanation.

The next few days passed by uneventfully, with me studying with the trio or training with the twins. I was quickly getting better in terms of fighting skills, and was able to beat Rhea in sword-to-sword combat. Aristo still had a little bit over me, but I  _did_  knock his sword out of his hand once the day before.

I was eating breakfast with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, when Hedwig came flying towards us. I peeked at the message, and saw that it was from Hagrid, reading:  _s'I cihact._  I shook my head, asking Harry what it said.

Harry looked at me before whispering, " _It's hatching_." I looked at Ron and Harry before we quickly got up, intent on going to Hagrid's hut, but was stopped by Hermione before we could fully exit the Great Hall.

"No!" she exclaimed. "We can't skip class!"

"Hermione, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?" Ron retorted, looking at the brunette exasperatedly.

"We've got lessons. We'll get in trouble, and that's nothing to what Hagrid's going to be in when someone finds out what he's doing–"

"Shut up!" Harry hissed. I felt eyes on us and turned just to see Malfoy standing a few feet away, eavesdropping. The look on his face made me sick to my stomach. I wonder how much he actually heard.

I looked at my friends and suggested, "Let's go to class." I didn't know if Malfoy would follow us, so we headed to Herbology, with Ron and Hermione arguing quietly the entire way. In the end, we settled to going to Hagrid's during morning break in-between classes so we didn't miss any.

We all darted out of Herbology after the class was over. I was behind Harry, Ron, and Hermione, when I felt arms circle around me. Immediately, I acted on impulse and gripped the wrists of my assailant. I swung the body, ignoring how heavy it was as adrenaline rushed through me.

My assailant twisted out of my grip while he was in the air, twisting my body. I broke free, releasing his wrist and my hand instinctively went into my pocket, pulling out Tempest. Just before I could withdraw it, I glanced at my attacker, only for my eyes to widen in shock.

"OhmyGodsI'msosorry!" I apologized in a rushed manner, bowing at my waist.

A musical chuckle echoed through the nearly empty hallway and the tone said, "It's no problem,  _glakia mou_. I'm more impressed than anything else. Raise your head."

I slowly stood up straighter, and saw Apollo was leaning against a doorway of an open classroom. His arms were crossed over his broad chest, his white t-shirt hugging him easily. "I see your training's paying off. Not many people can flip a God easily, Penny."

"I think you let me," I frowned. There was  _no_  way I could've done that to Apollo. He had won the first Olympic Games, defeating Ares in a boxing match and beating Hermes in a race. There was  _no_  way I could take him down (or even make a dent in him).

Apollo simply smiled at me, reaching out and ruffling my hair. "Be careful, all right,  _glakia mou_?" Without another word, he entered the empty room, closing the door behind him, and I knew he had left.

" _Penny_!" a voice called down the hall. I turned to see Harry, Ron, and Hermione waiting impatiently for me. "What're you standing around there for?!" Ron cried out. "Let's go!"

My feet kicked into gear and I ran over to the trio, and we jogged the rest of the way to Hagrid's. As we moved, I couldn't help but wonder what Apollo meant by that.  _Be careful_?

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts as we arrived at Hagrid's hut, where he was standing, greeting us all flushed and beaming. "It's nearly out," he managed to say before ushering us inside, closing the door behind us."

I stepped inside, seeing the large black egg on the table in the center of Hagrid's hut. There were cracks form all sides and it was moving around, with a weird clicking sound coming from it. We all gathered around the table, and just then, it broke open.

A fluid spilled out of it before a small little dragon flopped out, resembling some weird, wrinkled umbrella. It had large spiny wings that were probably double the size of its tiny body, with a long snout and wide nostrils, horns, and large, round orange eyes.

It sneezed and a couple sparks flew out of its snout.

I wrinkled my nose. Birth was supposed to be a beautiful thing, but this… was kind of…  _egh_. I  _guess_  it was cute.

"Isn't he  _beautiful_?" Hagrid cooed, sounding every bit of like a proud mother. He reached out, stroking the dragon's head. It snapped at him, sharp, pointed fangs clashing together. "Oh, bless him, look! He knows his mommy!"

… Sure.

"Hagrid," Hermione began nervously. "How fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, exactly?"

I felt a chill run up my spine and whirled around, hand flying to my pocket to grab my wand. I caught a flash of green and platinum blond.  _Malfoy_.

I vaguely heard Hagrid say there was someone, and Harry ran to the door. "It was Malfoy," I said, even though Harry already knew who it was.

"What do we do now?" Ron looked at all of us.

"What  _can_  we do?" I questioned back.

For the next week, Malfoy gave us dark smiles every time one of us passed by him. I was sitting with Cedric, Aristo, and Rhea in the library, when Malfoy walked by. "Read anything great about mythological creatures lately, Jackson?" he asked in a haughty tone, seeing me look at Cedric's  _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_. "Got any recommendations?"

I grit my teeth together and grounded out, "No, Malfoy. Now leave me alone."

Malfoy simply smirked and pushed, "What about Granger? That dirty little–"

"Hey, she said  _leave_ ," Aristo interrupted, his normally light blue eyes a hard steel. His tone held no-nonsense, and if I didn't know him, I'd actually be scared of him. There was a glower that filled his handsome face, and I turned to look at the other Hufflepuffs at the table.

Cedric sat next to Rhea with his lips in a tight line, his thick brows almost knitted together. The girl beside him gave Malfoy a stern look, her diamond-shaped face slightly dark.

Malfoy observed the three third years before scoffing. "This is what you resort to, Jackson?" he turned to me. "Hiding behind these airy-fairy Hufflepuffs?"

Adrenaline rushed through me and there was a small slam as I stood up quickly, withdrawing my wand. I pointed my weapon at Malfoy and said, "You know what they can do, Malfoy? They can have their hands and feet tied and out-hex you  _any day_   **blindfolded**. Before you could even  **blink** , you'll be on the ground. I know. It's happened to me. You insult my friends again, Malfoy, and I'll show you just what they've taught me."

My blood pulsed powerfully, and I felt the lights flicker. I don't know if so much blood was pulsing through me, but the ground seemed to be shaking softly. A soft hand clasped around my free arm that wasn't extended and I saw Rhea was standing up as well, keeping me at bay.

"I think it's best you leave before Penny curses you into oblivion," Rhea advised calmly, her musical voice hard.

Malfoy huffed and pivoted his heel, walking off.

A warmth appeared next to me and I saw Aristo standing next to me. He looked down at me and advised, "Deep breaths, Penny."

I inhaled sharply and exhaled deeply. I felt the shaking pause, and turned to look at my friends. Cedric had a look of astonishment on his face and he asked, "… What was  _that_?"

Rhea looked at him and said, "Probably an earthquake that was perfectly-timed?"

Cedric looked thoughtful for a minute before shrugging. "I suppose, so. Ugh, what a prat he was. Who was he?"

"Draco Malfoy," I supplied for the brunet.

"A Malfoy," Cedric recognized. "I should've known." He shook his head before gathering his books, standing up in the process. "I have to get to Quidditch practice. I'll see you guys later?" He looked at the twins, who nodded. He smiled at me and said, "I'll see you around, Penny."

"Bye, Ced," I waved, before the tall Hufflepuff walked away.

Rhea shot me a reprimanding look as I sat back down in my seat next to Aristo. "You should keep your temper in check better, Penny," she advised. "Your emotions play a large role in managing your powers, and because of who you're related to, the consequences are even direr."

I nodded quietly. "I've realized," I admitted. Whenever my temper would spike, there would be a sudden shake in the ground beneath me, or if I was near water, a flood would happen.

"Call it a day," Aristo advised. "I think we've got enough done for today, don't you agree?" He gathered his books, placing them in a neat pile.

Rhea and I followed his example, before we left the library together. I was walking with them, when Harry, Ron, and Hermione came barreling from around the corner.

"There you are!" Ron exhaled deeply, blue eyes landing on me. "We've been looking for you for  _ages_!"

"… I just saw you guys a while ago at dinner," I pointed out.

Ron rolled his eyes and he walked over to me. "C'mon, we have to get that  _thing_  done, remember?" He glanced at the twins briefly before turning back to me.

Aristo and Rhea looked at me pointedly, but I simply gave them a small smile. They accepted the excuse, before nodding. They bade the three other Gryffindors a goodbye before wishing me a nice evening.

"Did you feel that earthquake earlier?" Harry asked me as we walked to Hagrid's hut.

"It was very unusual," Hermione informed. "Scotland hardly ever gets any earthquakes. How strange."

"Hardly still means that there's a chance," I pointed out, taking a glance at the brunette. I couldn't really tell them that it was  _my_  fault for the earthquake.

We arrived at Hagrid's hut, and the owner of the place ushered us in quickly. Harry took a glance at the small dragon, who was walking around on the table, three times the size it was born a week ago. "Just let him go," he advised. "Set him free."

"I can't," Hagrid shook his head, causing his bushy beard and hair to fly. "He's too little. "He'd die."

I look pointedly at the other three, who shared the same look as I did. Hagrid was neglecting his duties as the gamekeeper of Hogwarts because he was so busy taking care of his dragon these days. Someone was going to notice at this rate.

"I've decided to call him Norbert," Hagrid announced. "He really knows me now, watch. Norbert! Norbert, where's Mummy?"

"He's lost his marbles," Ron leaned over, whispering into my and Harry's ears.

"Hagrid!" Harry called out in a huff. "Two more weeks and Norbert's going to be as long as your house. Malfoy could go to Dumbledore at any moment!"

Hagrid looked disheartened at the realization, and he bit his thick bottom lip. "I – I know," he admitted. "I know I can't keep 'im forever, but I jus' can't dump him. I can't."

Then, Harry's eyes brightened and he pivoted, turning to Ron. "Charlie."

"… You're losing it, too," Ron turned to his best male friend. "I'm  _Ron_ , remember?"

"No," Harry shook his head, his black locks flying with his enthusiasm. "Charlie, your brother, Charlie. In Romania. Studying dragons. We could send Norbert to him. Charlie can take care of him and then put him back in the wild!"

The redhead's eyes widened and his face glowed with realization "Brilliant!" he sighed deeply. "How 'bout it, Hagrid?"

It took a while, but with a bit of coaxing, Hagrid finally agreed, and Harry and Ron jumped to send a letter to Charlie. I won't bore you with the boring details, but Charlie agreed to take in Norbert about a week later. We were going to meet Charlie up at the tallest tower at midnight next Saturday.

"We've got the invisibility cloak," Harry pointed out. "It shouldn't be too difficult. I think the cloak's big enough to cover us and Norbert."

"By the way," I said, turning to look at Ron. "What happened to your hand?" I glanced down, seeing the bloody handkerchief.

"I was helping Hagrid feed Norbert," Ron informed. "And then it bit me! I'm not going to be able to hold a quill for a week. I tell you, that dragon's the most horrible animal I've ever met, but the way Hagrid goes on about it, you'd think it was a fluffy little bunny rabbit. When it bit me, he told me off for frightening it. And when I left, he was singing it a lullaby."

"That sucks," I frowned, looking down at the wound. "But you're alright, right?"

"I should be," Ron said, looking down at his injured hand.

… Ron wasn't okay. The next day, Ron's hand was so swollen that by the afternoon, he had to go to Madam Pomfrey and risk exposing Hagrid's little pet.

Harry, Hermione, and I were visiting Ron, who was in the hospital wing, looking pretty pale.

"It's not just my hand," he groaned, as green as his cut. "But it  _does_  feel like it's about to fall off. Malfoy told Madam Pomfrey he wanted to borrow one of my books so he could come and have a good laugh at me. He kept threatening to tell her what really bit me. I told her it was a dog, but I don't think she believes me. I probably shouldn't have hit him at that Quidditch match – that's why he's doing this."

"It'll be all over at midnight on Saturday," Hermione said, attempting to soothe Ron. That, however, caused the opposite effect and Ron shot up in his bed, eyes wide in alarm.

"Midnight on Saturday!" he repeated with a sudden realization. His voice cracked at how high his voice had gone. "Oh, I've just remembered! Charlie's letter was in that book Malfoy took – he's going to know we're getting rid of Norbert!"

I bit the inside of my mouth, my sea green eyes darting to my friends. They looked equally nervous. Madam Pomfrey suddenly came in, interrupting whatever Harry was going to say.

Reluctantly, the three of us left Ron to get his rest.

"It's too late to change the plan now," Harry sighed, looking at us as we walked to Hagrid's. "We haven't got time to send Charlie another owl, and this could be our only chance to get rid of Norbert. We'll have to risk it. And we  _do_  have the invisibility cloak. Malfoy doesn't know about that."

Saturday night, just before curfew, I found myself thinking over the situation:

Charlie was coming tonight to secretly take Norbert away.

Malfoy knows about it.

Hagrid is in depression because Norbert was leaving.

To be completely honest, I was kind of glad Norbert was leaving, even with the stress of Malfoy knowing. I'm sure Norbert is a sweet dragon and all, but a school was just not a place for someone to raise a dragon. One that had no experience, especially.

I sort of understood Hagrid's attachment to Norbert, but keeping this secret was getting  _pretty_  hard.

After curfew, Harry, Hermione, and I snuck to Hagrid's hut. Hagrid sniffled loudly, handing us a large crate. I held it wearily as it shook heavily, but because I was pretty fit, I was able to hold it easily.

"He's got lots o' rats an' some brandy fer the journey," Hagrid informed us, his eyes misty. "An' I've packed his teddy bear in case he gets lonely. I heard a sharp ripping sound and figured it was the teddy bear getting some love from Norbert. I glanced at Harry and Hermione, who simply looked down at me before back up at Hagrid. Hagrid then bawled loudly, "Bye-bye, Norbert! Mommy will never forget you!" He pulled out a large handkerchief and blew into it noisily.

Norbert continued to shake the crate as we moved under the invisibility cloak up to the highest tower of the school. At this point, it was getting so restless that Hermione had to charm a silencing spell over it and Harry had to help me hold it.

I wasn't even sure how we got up there unscathed, to be honest. By the time we were close to the tower, Harry was panting. "Nearly there!" he cried, and I saw a bead of sweat dribble down his face. It  _was_  hot under the cloak, especially with Norbert releasing a small stream of fire every now and then.

Suddenly, I heard some movement and paused, causing Hermione to run into me. She moved to open her mouth but I shushed her quickly.

A lamp flared and got closer, when I noticed two figures.

Professor McGonagall was in a bathrobe and hair net, holding Malfoy by his ear. "Detention!" she exclaimed. "And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night. How  _dare_  you–"

"You don't understand, Professor!" Malfoy interrupted, his cheeks pink from exasperation and embarrassment. "Harry Potter's coming! He's got a dragon!"

"What utter rubbish!" Professor McGonagall replied. "How dare you tell such lies! Come on – I shall see Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!"

Once the two disappeared around the corner, we continued our trek up the staircase, with Hermione practically dancing under the cloak. "Malfoy's got detention~!" she cheered quietly. "I could sing!"

"Don't," Harry advised as we reached the top, the cool air hitting us, but we did have a good chuckle at Malfoy's misfortune as we waited for Charlie and his friends.

About ten minutes later, Charlie came with three friends of his, all on broomsticks. I immediately recognized Charlie as the stocky, muscular redhead of the bunch. He threw us a smile and they all quickly loaded up Norbert in a harness they had.

Once Norbert was safe and secure, Charlie shook hands with us. His large hands were calloused and rough, most likely due to his time with working with dragons. We thanked all of them for taking the dragon off our hands and they all gave us cheery waves before leaving.

And then I realized: Norbert was gone.

I let out a sigh of relief I wasn't even aware I was holding, before the three of us began our descent down the stairs. Something nagged at me that I was forgetting something, but I just brushed it aside, figuring it wasn't important.

We turned a corner, and all of a sudden, I found myself staring wide-eyed up at the worn face of Filch, who grinned darkly when he saw us.

"Well, well, well," he said. "We  _are_  in trouble."

And then I remembered what my brain was trying to tell me: we had left the invisibility cloak up at the tower.

_Aw, crap._


	11. Detention

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **_I thought as someone like you, you'd be more careful._ **

_Idiot!_  I scolded myself mentally as I sat in Professor McGonagall's study, waiting for the Gryffindor Head to step through the doors. I was supposed to  _be careful_.

My knee bounced up and down and I had to spring up from my seat. I ignored Filch's order to sit back down and chose to pace instead. I pivoted my heel to prevent myself from crashing into the wall, gnawing on the corner of my bottom lip.

Was this what Apollo meant? No. I mean, at worse, Professor McGonagall was going to deduct points from us and give us detentions. So why was I feeling so antsy?

The door opened, causing me to glance up from my thoughts. Professor McGonagall strode inside, leading Neville. "Harry!" the plump boy exclaimed. "I was trying to find you to warn you: I heard Malfoy saying he was going to catch you, he said you had a drag–"

The boy was cut off by Harry shaking his head violently, but it was too late. Her nose flared, and I wondered if she was a child of Hephaestus, because I could practically see steam come from her.

"I would never have believed it of any of you," she began her lecture in a stern voice. "Mr. Filch says you were up in the Astronomy Tower. It's one o'clock in the morning.  _Explain yourselves_."

Hermione stared down at her slippers guiltily.

"I think I've got a good idea of what's been going on," the woman continued. "It doesn't take a genius to work it out. You fed Draco Malfoy some cock-and-bull story about a dragon, trying to get him out of bed and into trouble. I've already caught him. I suppose you think it's funny that Longbottom here heard the story and believe it, too?

"I'm disgusted," the elder witch said when there was no reply. "Five students out of bed in one night! I've never heard of such a thing before! You, Miss Granger, I thought you had more sense. As for you, Mr. Potter, I thought Gryffindor meant more to you than this. And you, Miss Jackson, I thought as someone like you, you'd be more careful. All four of you will receive detentions. Yes, you too, Mr. Longbottom.  **Nothing** gives you the right to walk around school at night, especially these days, it's very dangerous — and fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor."

" _Fifty_?" Harry repeated, eyes wide in shock.

"Fifty points  _each_ ," Professor McGonagall explained. While Harry and Hermione protested at the deduction in points, I had something to wonder about anymore.

" _I thought as someone like you, you'd be more careful,"_  she had said. Aristo and Rhea had informed me that no one – except Dumbledore, most likely – knew who we were.

I knew there was an elective for Greek Mythology – one that I was hoping to take come my third year, so I knew they were aware of the Gods' and Goddesses' existences, but generally, children of the Gods stayed quiet, especially those of the  _Dodekatheon_ , or Twelve Olympians, outside of their kind.

I looked up in time to see Professor McGonagall dismissing us. My eyes met her green before I looked away. Compared to Harry and Hermione, I didn't look as reprimanded, but a nagging feeling told me that I'd be feeling it soon.

It was completely silent on the way back to the Gryffindor common room. Harry, Neville, and Hermione stalked up to the room, and I was about to, as well, when I felt a large hand wrap around my arm.

My eyes widened as I was yanked and pushed against the wall semi-roughly. It wasn't enough to hurt, but completely strong enough to shock the life out of me.

Seeing a broad chest, I trailed up to see angry, sky blue eyes that fit on an angular, handsome face.

"I  _told_  you to be careful," he said in a low tone. A shadow fell over me as he loomed over me, looking down sternly at me. "And you go and get  _caught_."

"But it was just a detention and fifty points deduction…" I blurted, not seeing what was so wrong. So I got in trouble, big deal. I always got in trouble even in Muggle school.

"That's not what I meant, Penny," he said sternly, looking down at me. It was so strange to hear him call me  _Penny_. I knew it was my name – well, technically, Penelope is my name, Penny's my nickname – but as of late, he's been only calling me by little pet names.

I cocked my head to the side, unsure of what he was saying. "I don't understand."

Apollo sighed, his face contorting to a slightly troubled look. "I've said too much already. Anymore can result in punishment for me. Stay safe, Penelope. Trust your instincts."

With that, he placed his hand over my eyes, shielding me from the light that emitted from him before he disappeared. I opened my eyes, staring at the empty common room.

A couple days have passed, and as of late, I felt myself on the end stick of most Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs. Slytherins didn't count because they always hated Gryffindors – but because Harry, Hermione, Neville, and I had lost a grand total of two-hundred House points, Slytherin was currently in the lead for winning the House Cup.

The only people that stuck by me were Harry, Ron, Hermione, Aristo, Rhea, and Cedric. Neville, too, I suppose, but he took to distancing himself from us these days – probably to avoid getting into more trouble.

I was sitting with Ron and Hermione, helping the boy with his Astronomy homework, when Harry walked in, slightly flushed and a bit antsy. He informed us of what he had overhead – Quirrell being threatened. He hadn't heard who the second person was, but he would be it all on Snape.

"Snape's done it, then!" Ron exclaimed once Harry finished his tale. "If Quirrell's told him how to break his Anti-Dark Force spell–"

"There's still Fluffy, though," Hermione interrupted.

"Maybe Snape's found out how to get past him without asking Hagrid," Ron replied, looking at the many books in the library. "I bet there's a book somewhere in here telling you how to get past a giant three-headed dog. So what do we do, Harry?"

I could see the excitement burning in Ron's blue orbs. His reply was interrupted by Hermione. "Go to Dumbledore," she advised. "That's what we should have done ages ago. If we try anything ourselves, we'll be thrown out for sure."

"But we've got no  _proof_!" Harry exclaimed exasperatedly. "Quirrell's too scared to back us up. Snape's only got to say he doesn't know how the troll got in at Halloween and that he was nowhere near the third floor – who do you think they'll believe: him or us? It's not exactly a secret we hate him. Dumbledore will think we made it up to get him sacked. Filch wouldn't help us if his life depended on it. He's too friendly with Snape, and the more students get thrown out, the better, he'll think. And don't forget, we're not supposed to know about the Stone or Fluffy. That'll take a lot of explaining."

"I can't afford to get expelled again," I groaned softly, burying my face in my arms.

" _Again_?" Hermione echoed in disbelief. "You've been expelled before?"

I glanced up and looked up at her. "Six times," I admitted sheepishly. She looked at me with an unreadable look before shaking her head, resuming her reading.

"Maybe we should just do a little bit more p–"

"No," Harry interrupted Ron. "We've done enough poking around."

Sensing that the topic was dropped, the four of us proceeded to continue to do our Astronomy homework.

The next morning, I received a note while eating breakfast. Thankfully, I was able to read it this time, but it didn't hold any good news:

_Your detention will take place at eleven o'clock tonight._

_Meet Mr. Filch in the entrance hall._

_Professor McGonagall_

"Bummer," Aristo said, reading the note from beside me. "What'd you do?"

I bit my lip, glancing at Harry, Hermione, and Ron at the table next to us. The Hufflepuff table was in-between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables, and the Slytherin table was next to the Ravenclaw one.

I figured that since it was over and done with, I shared with Cedric, Aristo, and Rhea had occurred with Norbert – minus the invisibility cloak.

"You're just a little body of trouble, aren't you?" Cedric grinned after I finished telling the story.

Aristo threw his arm over my shoulder and he commented, "You'll have us worried to death at this rate, y'know that?" His tone was teasing, but I knew there was a serious undertone. Rhea, who was sitting across from me, gave me a warning look with her eyes subtly.

I curtly nodded and the topic was changed to something lighter.

At eleven o'clock at night, I left the common room with my fellow Gryffindors to head to the entrance hall. Filch and Malfoy were already there, waiting.

The caretaker sneered at us before lighting a lamp. "Follow me," he ordered gruffly, leading us outside of the castle. "I'll bet you'll think twice about breaking a school rule again, won't you, eh?" He looked at us with bulgy eyes. "Oh yes… hard work and pain are the best teachers if you ask me. It's just a pity they let the old punishments die out: hang you by your wrists from the ceiling for a few days – I've got the chains still in my office, keep 'em well-oiled in case they're every needed."

I frowned at the imagery, tuning out the rest of his mumbling. He was leading us further and further away from the castle, towards the Forbidden Forest. A shiver travelled up my spine as I heard some rustling as we got closer and closer, but it might have just been my paranoia.

"Is that you, Filch?" a familiar, gruff voice asked. "Hurry up, I want ter get started."

Well, if Hagrid was going to be helping us serve our detention, then I guess it couldn't be too bad, right? But then again, it really depends on what we were doing, like –

"– come out in one piece," I heard Filch say, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Wait, what happened?" I ask Neville, who was visibly shaking and holding onto Harry's robe.

"W–" Neville started, but then his voice croaked. "We're going into the forest."

"The forest?" Malfoy echoed. "We can't go in there at night – there's all sort of things in there – werewolves, I head."

"That's your problem, isn't it?" Filch smiled at us sadistically. "Should've thought of them werewolves before you got in trouble, shouldn't you?"

Hagrid then stepped out of the shadows, with Fang, his pet dog, at his heel. He was holding a large crossbow, and a quiver of arrows. Well… that didn't seem appealing. It made me wonder if Aristo and Rhea could use crossbows – they probably could…

A sharp pain emitted through me and I glared down at the source. Hermione's bony elbow just jammed itself in my side. I glared up at her and she hissed, " _Pay attention_!"

"Listen carefully," Hagrid said, looking at all of us seriously. "'Cause it's dangerous what we're gonna do tonight, an' I don' want no one takin' risks. Follow me over here a moment."

He led us over to the edge of the forest. We were so close to it that I had to bat away a tree branch that was much too close to me. Of course, it just came flying back at me and I stepped aside, moving so I was in-between Harry and Malfoy instead. Stupid tree branch.

Hagrid held his lamp up high, and he pointed down a path that was soon obscured by the darkness of the forest. "Look there," he advised. I followed his pudgy finger to see a puddle of something weird. "See that stuff shinin' on the ground? Silvery stuff? That's unicorn blood. There's a unicorn in there bin hurt badly by summat. This is the second time in a week. I found one dead last Wednesday. We're gonna try an' find the poor thing. We might have ter put it out of its misery."

"And what if whatever hurt the unicorn finds us first?" Malfoy asked in a shaky tone.

Hagrid turned to look at the lone Slytherin. "There's nothin' that lives in the forest that'll hurt yeh if yer with me or Fang. An' keep ter the path. Right, now, we're gonna split inter two parties an' follow the trail in diff'rent directions. There's blood all over the palce, it must've bin staggerin' around since last night at least."

"I want Fang," Malfoy called quickly.

"All right," Hagrid agreed. "But I warn yeh, he's a coward. So me, Harry, an' Hermione'll go one way an' Draco, Neville, Penny, an' Fang'll go the other. Now if any of us finds the unicorn, we'll send up green sparks, right? Get yer wands out an' practice now."

I rolled my eyes, seeing as I was paired up with Malfoy. Hagrid gave me a small apologetic look and I shrugged, practicing launching my sparks.  _"Verdimillious_ ," I said, and the sparks launched from the tip of my wand to the ground.

"An' if anyone gets in trouble, send up red sparks, an' we'll all come an' find yeh – so, be careful – let's go."

I took off with Fang, Malfoy, and Neville at my heels, and I began to search for the unicorn. Neville was jumping every time I stepped on a particularly crunchy leaf, and Malfoy's eyes wouldn't stop darting around.

I suppose the forest  _was_  scary, but to be completely honest, with all the training Aristo and Rhea have put me through, I felt ready for anything…  _Hopefully_.

All of a sudden, I heard a roar and then a cry of terror. By the time I whirled around, ready to curse our attacker, red sparks were launched into the air, engulfing us in a bright red light.

I glared at Malfoy, who was cackling like crazy while Neville looked ready to piss his pants. " _Malfoy_!" I roared.

"Wha' happened?" I heard rapid crunching noises as Hagrid came into view.

I scowled, blowing a lock out of my face as I jutted my wand in Malfoy's direction. " _Malfoy_  here, thought it'd be funny to scare Neville. Neville, scared out of his mind, launched some sparks."

Hagrid looked furious and ordered for us to follow him back. We quickly met up with Harry and Hermione, and Hagrid lectured, "We'll be lucky ter catch anythin' now, with the racket you two were makin'. Right, we're changin' groups – Neville, you stay with me an' Hermione. Harry, you go with Fang, Penny, an' this idiot."

And so, Harry, Malfoy, Fang, and I stalked off into the forest. I didn't know how much time had passed as we followed the silvery-trail of blood, but it seemed to be getting thicker and thicker.

It was everywhere: on the trees, the ground, the leaves…

My body tensed on its own, ready to fight. My right hand clenched my wand tightly while my left itched to grab Tempest.

"Look," Harry muttered all of a sudden. I looked forward more closely, and saw something bright and shining.

"Slowly," I advised as we inched closer and closer to the bright figure.

… We had found the unicorn. And it was  _dead_. Its long, powerful legs were stuck in strange angles and its mane was a bright white, dirtied by the mud and dark leaves.

A sound caught my attention and I tensed, gripping my wand tightly. A low growl emitted from the bushes and I stiffened, back straightening. The growls got louder and louder and the bushes shook harder.

"AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!"

I would've laughed at how high and screechy Malfoy's voice got – almost like a Banshee's – as he dropped his lamp and took off running. Fang, on instinct, followed him.

All of a sudden, there was a blast and I found myself flying.

" _PENNY!"_  I heard Harry's distant voice called as I slammed into a tree.

I let out a grunt of pain and grabbed my wand quickly. " _Aguamenti_!" I cried out quickly, trying to get as much water out as possible. If I could get water, I would be set.

I heard growls and then barking, as something black launched out of the bushes. I rolled out of the way just in time to dodge, pushing myself onto my feet.

The two-headed dog that had attacked me growled, drool dripping from its sharp, dirty teeth. Its tail swished and hissed, making me see that it had a serpent as its tail. I felt like I should know what it was, but I couldn't place my hands on it…

"Think, Penny," I hissed quietly, holding my wand out towards it. What's a good spell used to defend? " _Orbis_!" I cried, launching my spell at the dog. It growled and jumped out of the way just as the ground where it once stood sunk.

Its tail hissed and shot out towards me and I lunged for the ground. One of its heads made a move towards me and I hissed in shock, quickly pulling my arm away just before it could take it.

" _Aqua Eructo_!" I called, a blast of water flying from my wand. It shot towards the dog and it hit one of its faces, but the other glared at me before charging right towards me.

I tried to move out of the way, but it was too strong and the damned trees were in my way.

I found myself pinned to the ground, landing on the muddy ground, and I winced as I felt the cracking of my right wrist, causing my wand to fall out of my hands. I felt its drool dribble all over my face and my robes as it growled low at me, its tail snaking around my ankles.

It moved down, ready to bite my face off, but I was faster. Taking advantage of the water around me, I quickly summoned it, making it come to life. It shot up, pushing the dog off of me and I got up, cradling my most-likely-broken wrist.

Using my left hand, I controlled the water to ensnare the dog, before using my left hand to pull out Tempest. Its tail shot out, snapping at me, startling me.  _Crap_ , I forgot about it.

It had broken my concentration and once again, the dog was free. I jumped out of the way just in time, but its tail snaked around my ankles, pulling me to the ground, my sword slipping from my grip.

My face hit a rather rough tree root, and I felt a metal tang in my mouth. I rolled over just in time to see the dog growling, launching itself on top of me

My eyes shut tightly, hoping my water would make it in time. I felt a familiar handle in my hand and thrust it upward just as a searing pain caught on my right shoulder.

I felt the blade of Tempest pierce through the dog as it landed right on top of me, a whine of pain escaping from its lips. A sprinkle of dust covered over my skin, and I peeled my eyes open just in time to see the last of it disappearing into dust.

A sigh of relief escaped my lips, and I felt some blood trickle out the side of my mouth. I lied there on the muddy ground, trying to catch my breath. Oh  _Gods_.

" _Penny!"_  I heard multiple voices call, but it sounded so distant. My right arm hurt so much it felt like it was going to fall off.

_Put Tempest away,_  the voice inside my head advised. Not even bothering to argue with it, I capped it shut, slipping it back into my robes, still not moving. I threw my good arm over my eyes, shielding out the bright moonlight.

Can I just sleep out here?

I heard heavy rustling, and then streaks of yellow. Identical sky blue eyes looked down at me in concern, and Rhea placed a gentle hand on me. "Penny, can you hear me?"

"Yeah," I mumbled. "B– B–"

"That's all we need to know," Aristo said swiftly, cutting me off. "We're going to heal you now, Penny. You'll be fine, okay? It's not too serious."

"My arm feelz like iz about teh fall doe," I slurred, my eyelids getting heavy.

Rhea turned to her brother, pulling out her wand. "She's losing consciousness, we better get started." She tapped her wand against my shoulder wound and mumbled, " _Aguamenti_."

Instantly, I felt a tightening sensation over my shoulder, and hissed gently. I could feel the muscle and tissue repairing itself and my throbbing wrist was being moved.

Vaguely, I could hear Aristo singing softly in his countertenor voice:

_Praise the God of Sun,_  
 _Praise the God of Truth,_  
 _Praise the God of Song,  
_ _To my Father, I sing to Thee._

_Heal this wound and all its burns_  
 _To what it once before these churns,_  
 _For what I sing to you,_  
 _My Father, this is what you do,_  
 _Heal this hurt and pain,  
_ _For my love you gain._

_For you, we follow,_  
 _O Father, hear our plea,  
_ _I offer myself to Thee._

A warmth spread throughout my arm and as I was slowly getting less and less tired, I turned my head to see Aristo completely focused on my broken wrist, a soft glow emitting from his hands.

The pain in my arm dulled before it completely disappeared, and I felt my bones and tissue rearrange itself beneath Aristo and Rhea's treatments.

A couple minutes later, I found myself standing up with the assistance of Rhea. "You're filthy," she told me, looking at me up and down. "Think you can do something about it?"

"I probably can,' I admitted. I closed my eyes in concentration and felt a warmth wash over me as water I had conjured up surround me. It then disappeared, and I looked down at my clothes. Not a speck of dirt or blood was on them, and if it weren't for my ripped shoulder, it would have looked like I wasn't attacked at all.

"We can fix that," Aristo said, pulling out his wand. He pointed it to my ripped robes and muttered out, " _Pallae reparo_." At once, my robe stitched itself back up, looking fine as it originally was.

"Thanks," I said, looking up at Aristo.

He looked down at me with his sky blue orbs and smiled. "Any time."

" _Penny!"_  I heard in the distance.

Rhea looked at Aristo before turning back to me. "That's our cue to leave. We'll see you tomorrow, Penny. Don't get into any more trouble tonight, yeah?" She gave me a small wink before she and her twin disappeared into the darkness of the forest.

A few moments later, Hagrid, Harry, Hermione, Neville, Malfoy, and Fang burst through the bushes.

"Penny!" Hermione cried, throwing her arms around me. "Oh, thank Heavens you're all right! Harry said you were blown all the way over here!"

"Yeah," I nodded grimly, hoping my acting was decent. "Some force shoved me all the way over here."

"Are yeh hurt anywhere?" Hagrid asked, looking at me while shining his lamp.

I looked at him before shaking my head. "No. I'm fine." I gave a smile to show I was perfectly okay.

Hermione looked at me with narrowed eyes as she stepped back, observing me. "There isn't a scratch on you… or dirt, for that matter." She looked down at the dirty ground, which I had cleaned away of its muddy existence. It was just plain old dirt, now.

I sighed heavily, looking at the bushy-haired girl. "Hermione, there's this thing called  _magic_. It kinda can help you clean yourself up." I held up my wand to show her.

"Oh," she realized. "Right. Of course."

"We shou' head back," Hagrid said, looking around. "It's gettin' late."

All of us walked back to the castle, and every few seconds, my eyes couldn't help but dart towards Harry, who was jittery, just like the way Percy, the twins, or I were when we didn't do anything for a long time. He gave me a small look around the fiftieth timed I looked at him and he gave me a grim nod.

I recognized the look and nodded curtly, understanding he'll tell me what had happened to him while I was away.

When Hermione, Neville, Harry, and I got back to the common rooms, Neville scurried upstairs while we walked to the couches, where Ron was slumped over on one of them. He had fallen asleep waiting for us.

" _FOUL_!" he roared when Harry shook him roughly.

" _Shhh_!" the three of us hissed at the redhead.

Harry sat down, and with the fire crackling ominously, he began to tell us of his encounter with a black, cloaked figure…  _Voldemort_.

He shook heavily before he jumped to his feet, pacing. "Snape wants the stone for Voldemort, and Voldemort's waiting in the forest, and all this time, we thought Snape just wanted to get rich…"

"Stop saying the name!" Ron's voice quaked as he hissed at his best friend.

From what I had been informed, Voldemort was a dark wizard who had done unspeakable and unmentionable things a decade ago – he had formed a reign of terror in the Wizarding World and had killed many – including Harry's parents. And Harry was known as the Boy Who Lived, because he was the only one that was able to survive against Voldemort – and defeat him – as an infant.

Harry ignored him and continued, "Firenze saved me, but he shouldn't have done so. Bane was furious. He was talking about interfering with what the planets say is going to happen. They must show that Voldemort's coming back. Bane things Firenze should have let Voldemort kill me. I suppose that's written in the stars, as well."

Harry ignored Ron's sharp whimper.

"So all I've got to wait for now is Snape to steal the Stone. Then Voldemort will be able to come and finish me off. Well, I suppose Bane will be happy."

" _Will you_ _ **please**_ _stop saying the name?!_ " Ron whimpered out.

"Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself," I echoed, as a voice rang inside my head. I agreed with the voice, though. What you were supposed to do when you faced an enemy was face it confidently – no matter how scared you were, just think of what you wanted to protect, and you'll find bravery. Maybe it was stupid to think like that, but I felt it was the right thing to do. You'll never find me running away when my friends and family are in danger.

Hermione's words snapped me out of my own thoughts, as she said, "Harry, everyone says Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was ever afraid of. With Dumbledore around, You-Know-Who won't touch you. Anyway, who says the centaurs are right? It sounds like fortune-telling to me, and Professor McGonagall says that's a very imprecise branch of magic."

"While I don't know much about Centaurs, Hermione, if the Fates are involved, you should proceed with caution," I said, turning my face to look at the fire. "Prophecies, especially."

"First off, that's rubbish," Hermione scolded, looking at me. "There's no evidence that any  _Fate_  or  _Prophecy_  can come true. And second, it was a  _Centaur_ , not  _the Fates_."

I turned to Hermione and narrowed my eyes, defensive of how she frowned upon what the Gods believed in. Since knowing what I was, I knew very well prophecies and the Fates themselves were real. "The true Prophecies given by Oracles are true, Hermione, make no mistake. Don't look down on the Gods, I'm warning you."

"They're  _myths_ , Penny. Perhaps you're a bit too eager to take Mythology in third year."

Thunder rumbled in the distance, and I knew They had heard. "I'd be careful what you'd call myths, Hermione, because after all, wasn't magic just a myth?"

Without waiting for a reply, I stood up, walking up the stairs and heading for my dormitory, leaving the three behind me.

As much as I wanted to share to them who and  _what_  I was, I knew I shouldn't. There was no law against it, but it was frowned upon for Demigods to go about, bragging about their Godly – literally – powers.

As I closed the door behind me, Katharos flew over, greeting me with a peck. "Lord Apollo wishes you well," she said softly, nipping at my finger that I held in front of her beak. "As does Lord Poseidon."

I smiled softly, before stroking the raven's head. "Thank you, Katharos. Wish them well for me the next time you see them. And tell Apollo to stop fretting, did he see how I took down that Orthros?" I had finally remembered what the monster was called.

"Yes, but not without a great risk," Katharos looked at me with a scolding look in her eyes. "You should've been faster and moved out of the way."

"I know," I sighed softly. "But I'm still getting used to it. Next time, I'll be fine."

"Let's hope there  _isn't_  a next time."


	12. The Chamber through the Trapdoor

" _ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT_ _ **?!"**_

* * *

At times like these, I was glad I had friends that were older than me.

Aristo, Rhea, and Cedric were top of their years, and thus, were able to easily help me with my homework in preparation for my exams.

When I finished my last exam, History of Magic, I was relieved, because the second I stepped out of the stuffy classroom, a heavy weight was lifted off my shoulders.

I followed Harry, Ron, and Hermione to the Black Lake, sitting under a tree. I noticed movement in my peripheral vision, and glanced at Harry, who was rubbing his forehead furiously.

"I wish I knew what this means!" Harry exclaimed. "My scar keeps hurting. It's happened before, but never as often as this."

"Go to Madam Pomfrey," Hermione suggested, looking up from a book. How she could read right after an exam, I'd never know. But then again, all I can read are textbooks, since those are the only ones that were enchanted for my eyes.

"I'm not ill," Harry sighed. "I think it's a warming; like danger's coming."

I frowned, not liking how this was playing out. It had been a little over a week since our punishment in the Forbidden Forest, and since then, Apollo hasn't visited me. I was much too busy studying for exams with my friends, and instead, he passed messages to me through Katharos.

Since that day, he hasn't warned me of anything. But then again, I guess he was right in doing so. I can't have him watching over me for the rest of my life – I had to live it the way it was written for me to live.

"Harry, relax," Ron tried to coax the bespectacled boy. "Hermione's right. The Stone's safe as long as Dumbledore's around. Anyway, we've never had any proof Snape found out how to get past Fluffy. He nearly had his leg ripped off once, he's not going to try it again in a hurry. And Neville will play Quidditch for England before Hagrid lets Dumbledore down."

I felt slight pity for Neville, who was insulted even though it was just a harmless comparison Ron made up.

"But I felt like I forgot to do something – something important," Harry frowned.

"That's just the exams," Hermione waved off. "I woke up last night and was halfway through my Transfiguration notes before I remembered we'd done that one."

I saw the dark-haired boy relax slightly, going to sit, before tensing, jumping to his feet.

"Where are you going?" Ron asked wearily.

Harry's face visibly paled. "I've just thought of something. We've got to go and see Hagrid.  _Now_." Without another word, he took off. My instincts had been pushed into high gear seeing him so high-strung that I followed him without missing a beat.

"Why?" Hermione breathed out as he ran up a slope to Hagrid's hut.

"Don't you think it's a bit odd that what Hagrid wants more than anything in the world is a dragon, and a stranger turns up – and he just  _happens_  to have an egg in his pocket? How many people wander around with dragon eggs in their pockets if it's against wizard law? Why didn't I see it before?"

"What are you talking about?" Ron inquired as we ran to Hagrid's.

The man looked thoroughly surprised when he saw us running towards him, but quickly covered it with a joyful smile. "Hullo," he greeted. "Finished yet exams? Got time fer a drink?"

"Yes, please," Ron panted out, gasping for breath.

"No," Harry shook his head, denying Ron and Hermione their much-needed water. "We're in a hurry. Hagrid, I've got to ask you something: You know that night you won Norbert? What did the stranger you were playing cards with look like?"

"Dunno," Hagrid shook his head. "He wouldn' take his cloak off." I arched my eyebrows at that revelation, and he explained, "It's not that unusual. Yeh get a lot o' funny folk in the Hog's Head. Mighta bin a dragon dealer, mightn' he? I never saw his face, though – kept his hood up."

"Did you mention Hogwarts at all?"

Hagrid admitted that he might have, and that the stranger was really curious about the creatures Hagrid took care of. If that didn't set any alarms ringing in my head, it sure did now. Sure, it was fantastic – what Hagrid did in terms of taking care of animals – but this was just way too suspicious. He also slipped about Fluffy.

"Did he seem interested in Fluffy?" I found myself blurting out.

"Well, yeah," Hagrid nodded. "How many three-headed dogs d'yeh meet, even around Hogwarts? So I told him, Fluffy's a piece o' cake if yeh know how to calm him down. Jus' play him a bit o' music an' he'll go straight off ter sleep–" He abruptly cut himself off, realizing what he had just said.

But it was too late.

All four of us walked off in silence, despite Hagrid's protests.

"We've got to go to Dumbledore," Harry said as we made our way to the castle. "Hagrid told that stranger how to get past Fluffy, and it was either Snape or Voldemort under that cloak. It must've been easy, once he'd got Hagrid drunk. I just hope Dumbledore believes us. Firenze might back us up if Bane doesn't stop him. Where's Dumbledore's office?"

We all paused from our trek inside the castle. We've never been to Dumbledore's office, so obviously we never knew where it was. I scratched my head, opening my mouth to say I'd ask one of my third-year Hufflepuff friends, when a familiar voice rang out.

"What are you four doing inside?" Professor McGonagall asked, approaching us.

Hermione stepped forward. "We want to see Professor Dumbledore," she said bravely.

"Professor Dumbledore?" the woman echoed, curious to know why we were searching for the headmaster. "Why?"

"It's sort of a secret," Harry replied nervously, looking at our Head of House.

Professor McGonagall's face hardened and her nostrils flared with annoyance. "Professor Dumbledore left ten minutes ago," she informed us steely. "He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and flew off for London at once."

" _What_?!" Harry exclaimed, green eyes wide with panic. "He's  _gone_?!  _Now_?"

"Professor Dumbledore is a very great wizard, Mr. Potter. He has many demands on his time–"

"But this is important."

"Something you have to say is more important than the Ministry of Magic, Mr. Potter?"

"Professor," Harry sighed. "It's about the Philosopher's Stone–"

I jumped at the loud  _crash_  that occurred from Professor McGonagall dropping her books. If I didn't know what was going on, I would've pulled out a wand or Tempest. "B – H – How do you all know?" Her eyes darted to each of us.

"Professor, I  _know_  that Sn – that someone's going to try and steal the Stone. We  _have_  to take to Professor Dumbledore."

Professor McGonagall proceeded to shoot down each and every reasoning we had. I inwardly sighed and shifted my stance, my muscles tensing as time continued to pass. When she left, Harry whirled back to us.

"It's tonight," he said lowly, looking at us with his almond-shaped eyes. "Snape's going through the trapdoor tonight. He's found out everything he needs, and now he's got Dumbledore out of the way. He sent that note – I bet the Ministry of Magic will get a real shock when Dumbledore turns up."

"I don't know," I moved to protest. "I mean we don't have enough evi– "

I was cut off by Hermione gasping. Without even turning around, I realized who was standing there. I slowly turned my head over my shoulder to see the familiar, greasy-haired, hooked-nose Potions Professor.

"Good afternoon," he greeted calmly. He gave a wiry grin before commenting, "You shouldn't be inside on a day like this." Cutting Harry off, who had opened his mouth, Snape continued, "You'd want to be more careful. Hanging around like this, people will think you're up to something, and Gryffindor really can't afford to lose any more points, can it?"

The Potions Professor opened his mouth to continue, but was cut off by a familiar voice calling, "Oh, Penny, there you are!" I turned around to see the bright, kind smile of Cedric as he walked over to us with confident strides. Seeing we had company, the Hufflepuff gave a polite nod, "Professor Snape."

"Mr. Diggory," Snape acknowledged. "I've just finished grading your final exam. Very good on identifying the ingredients and usage of the Invisibility Potion."

"Thank you, sir," Cedric nodded politely.

Snape turned to us Gryffindors and looked at us sternly. "Be warned, Potter – any more nighttime wanderings and I will personally make sure you are expelled. Good day to you all." Snape spun on his heel, causing his cloak to dramatically flare behind him, and he strode away.

Cedric looked down at me with his grey-eyes and asked, "How'd you do?"

"Brilliant!" I exclaimed, clapping my hands in excitement. "What you guys told me to focus on were what exactly appeared on the exams!"

Cedric gave me a kind smile and messed up my hair affectionate – something my third year friends liked to do. I pursed my lips and he congratulated me. "Well done, Penny," he praised. "Be sure to tell me when you get your results. We'll celebrate with the twins."

"That's if I pass," I said, looking up at the older boy. "I've barely passed my studies when I went to Muggle school back in America."

"You're brilliant, Penny," the taller boy comforted. "Trust me when I say that. I'm hardly ever wrong." He gave me a playful wink and ruffled my hair again. "I'll see you around." He gave nods of acknowledgement to Harry, Ron, and Hermione before taking his leave.

"Bye, Ced!" I called, and the boy turned to wave at me before disappearing around the corner.

Once Cedric was out of sight, Harry whirled to us as we headed to the Gryffindor common room. "I've got to go tonight and get to the Stone before Snape."

"You're mad!" Ron exclaimed as Hermione gave the Fat Lady the password.

"You  _can't_!" Hermione protested. "You'll be expelled!"

"So  _what_?!" Harry cried out, and I was glad we were the only ones inside the large, circular room. "Don't you understand? If Snape gets a hold of the Stone, Voldemort's coming back! Haven't you heard what it was like when he was trying to take over? There won't  _be_  any Hogwarts to get expelled from! Losing points doesn't matter anymore! Will he leave you guys and your families alone if Gryffindor wins the House Cup?  _No_! If I get caught before I can get to the Stone, well, I'll have to go back to the Dursleys and wait for Voldemort to find me there. It's only dying a bit later than I would have, because I'm never going to work for him! I'm going through that trapdoor tonight and nothing you three say is going to stop me!"

Ron and Hermione were thoroughly admonished and I opened my mouth. Harry whirled to look at me, his eyes wide as he waited for me to add my two cents. "I was just going to say you weren't going to go alone. Not without me."

Harry gave me a thankful nod, smiling softly at me. I returned it with one of my own before turning to our two other friends.

"You're right, Harry," Hermione said in a soft voice.

Harry turned to me and said, "We'll use the invisibility cloak. It's lucky that I got it back."

"But will it cover all four of us?" Ron cocked a brow.

"All – all four of us?"

"You don't think we'd let you two go off by yourselves, do you?"

"Of course not!" Hermione pitched in. "How do you think you'd get to the Stone without us? I'd better go and look through my books – there might be something useful."

"But if we get caught, all of us – including you three – will be expelled."

"Wouldn't be the first time," I sighed, scratching my head.

"Not if I can help it," Hermione refuted. "Flitwick told me in secret that I got a hundred and twelve percent on his exam. They're not throwing me out after that."

Was there even extra credit on the exam? I don't think so, but given the way Hermione explained everything, I wouldn't be surprised if she passed all her classes with over a hundred percent from her final exams. Sometimes, I wished I could be that smart, but then again, I'd be more stressed out. Plus, I like my free time to swim or spar.

We all went to dinner and I decided to sit with the Hufflepuffs. I sat next to Cedric with the twins across from us.

Rhea looked at me and asked, "What's wrong, Penny? I'm sure it's not your exams, is it? Ced said that you were quite confident in your results."

"I can't really say," I grimaced, looking at the twins. "It's kind of a secret." Aristo and Rhea exchanged looks, but let it drop. They knew the importance of keeping secrets, and Cedric wasn't one to pry. Bless these understanding Hufflepuffs.

We ate dinner together, with me trying to relax as much as possible before we headed to stop Voldemort from getting the Stone. I believed that we shouldn't jump to conclusions about Snape, but I chose to not voice it to the gang anymore, because they firmly believed it was him.

After dinner, the three walked me to Gryffindor Tower, where they gave me hugs good night, before leaving me. I joined Harry, Ron, and Hermione in a corner of the common room, and we just sat there, waiting for everyone to disperse.

It only took a couple hours, before the last person, Lee Jordan, left. With that, Harry ran upstairs to grab the cloak before rushing back downstairs.

"We'd better put the cloak on here, and make sure it covers all of us. If Filch spots one of our feet wandering along on its own–"

"What are you doing?" a voice interrupted Harry. Neville popped out from behind an armchair, holding his pet toad, Trevor, like it was his lifeline.

Harry's eyes widened before he hid his cloak behind his back. "Nothing, Neville. Nothing."

He looked at us before he declared, "You're going out again."

"No, no, no," Hermione denied. "No, we're not. Why don't you go to bed, Neville?"

The boy looked at us and said, "You can't go out. You'll be caught again and Gryffindor will be in even more trouble."

"You don't understand," Harry said, an almost begging tone in his voice. "This is important."

Neville, however, wasn't having it. "I won't let you do it." He ran over to the portrait hole, standing in our way. "I'll – I'll fight you!" he declared.

" _Neville_!" Ron cried, impatient, with his face as red as his hair with annoyance. "Get away from there and don't be such an idiot–"

"Don't you call me an idiot!" Neville yelled. "I don't think you should be breaking any more rules. And you were the one who told me to stand up to people!"

"Yeah, but not to  _us_!" Ron sighed out. "Neville, you don't know what you're doing." He moved forward to confront the blond boy, and the latter dropped Trevor, who hopped away.

Neville balled his hands into fists and held them up in front of him. I couldn't help but notice that his posture was all wrong and with just a simple move, I could take him out. I kept that information to myself, though, as Neville cried out, "Go on, then! Try and hit me! I'm ready!"

Hermione then stepped forward, her apology written all over her face. "Neville, I'm really,  _really_  sorry about this. She held up her wand and cried out, " _Petrificus Totalus_!"

All of a suddenly, Neville's arms slapped to his sides, with his legs locking together. He stood stiff for a second before losing his balance. I darted forward, catching him before he could land on his face. He couldn't move at all, except for his eyes, which darted in horror as he looked at us silently.

"What did you do to him?" Harry whispered to Hermione.

"It's the Full Body-Bind Curse," Hermione replied. "Oh, Neville, I'm so sorry." I hoisted the boy over my shoulder easily, and walked him to one of the couches, where I laid him down.

"We had to, Neville, no time to explain," Harry said quickly, looking down at the boy apologetically.

"You'll understand later, Neville," Ron said before we rushed out of the portrait hole while throwing on the invisibility cloak.

We snuck to the third-floor corridor without too much trouble. We  _did_  run into Mrs. Norris and Peeves, but they were quickly taken care of by some quick-thinking. But when we got there, the door was already open slightly, and a coldness ran down my spine.

"Snape's already got past Fluffy," Harry whispered to us. He turned to us and said, "If you want to go back, I won't blame you. You can take the cloak – I won't need it now."

"That's a load of rubbish," Ron scoffed.

"We're coming, too," Hermione said affirmatively. I nodded in agreement. Harry then whirled around and pushed the door opened.

It creaked lowly, and I could hear the low growls. Suddenly, their noses were just a few feet from us, but they still couldn't see us. It was rather stiffening, to be honest, as they sniffed around, trying to find us.

I spotted a harp at its feet, and figured it was charmed to play as the person tried to climb down the trapdoor at its feet. I heard a low note and turned to see Harry playing Hagrid's flute. Slowly, Fluffy fell asleep, and we edged to the trapdoor.

"Wanna go first, Hermione?" Ron asked, looking at the brunette.

The girl turned to look at Ron with a glare. " _No_ , I  _don't_!" she hissed.

Ron pursed his lips in annoyance before sighing out, "All right." He slowly walked around Fluffy's large paws, before heading towards the trapdoor. He tugged on it, and it swung open easily.

"What do you see?" Hermione inquired tensely. I was hoping that she'd calm down, soon, because  _her_  being nervous was making  _me_  be nervous.

"Nothing," Ron reported. "Just black. There's no way of climbing down. We'll just have to drop." Harry moved from beside me and waved while still playing Hagrid's flute. "Really?" Ron understood his best friend immediately. "You wanna go first? Are you sure? I don't know how deep this thing goes, so give the flute to Hermione so she can keep him asleep."

It was interesting to note that immediately after the music stopped, Fluffy began to growl and twitch, but when Hermione continue to play the flute, it fell back asleep, snoring quite deeply.

I waited semi-patiently as Harry gave Ron orders to go to the owlery if anything happens and send Hedwig to Dumbledore, before Harry jumped down the trapdoor.

There was a few seconds of silence – save for the flute music – and I looked at Hermione and Ron anxiously. It was then, I heard Harry's voice call back from below,  _"It's okay! It's a soft landing, you can jump!"_

Without a moment's hesitation, my body flew right down the trapdoor. I soared for Zeus-knows-how-long and I just prayed I somehow wouldn't die so soon. I grunted softly at something muffled caught me, and it was like… some weird, plant-thing. What was it called again?

Ron landed gracelessly in-between Harry and I and he looked around strangely. "What the bloody hell is this stuff?"

"Dunno, some sort of plant thing," Harry replied. "I suppose it's here to break the fall.  _Come on, Hermione_!"

The music from above stopped, and there was a sharp bark. A second later, Hermione landed on Harry's other side. "We must be  _miles_  under the school," she looked around.

"Lucky this plant thing's here, really," Ron replied, touching the plant.

" _Lucky_!" Hermione cried out. "Look at the three of you!"

Being distracted by Fluffy and the strangeness of the area around us, I hadn't even noticed that my legs were being restrained by this plant. I was seconds away from pulling out Tempest, but I willed myself to not. I couldn't risk telling them  _here_  of all places just  _who_  I was.

"Wait, stop moving!" Hermione yelled, and I tensed, pausing my struggle. "I know what this is: it's Devil's Snare!"

With its name being called, it tugged on me tighter, and I remembered what I have been informed of it:  _"Devil's Snare is a fleshy, rubbery plant with long shoots and creepers that prefers dark, dank environments. It kills its victims by wrapping itself around anything or anyone that treads or falls upon it."_

"I'm so glad we know what it's called," Ron gasped out, leaning so the plant would stop curling around his neck. "Now I'll know the name of my killer!"

"Shut up!" Hermione snapped. "I'm trying to remember how to kill it!"

"Well, hurry up, I can't breathe!" Harry and I gasped out, as I struggled against the plant. I swear, if Hermione didn't find a way to save us,  _I_  was going to grab Tempest and slice these things to pieces.

"Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare… what did Professor Sprout say? It likes the dark and the damp."

"Even  _I_  could've told you that!" I cried out. I was nowhere  _near_  Hermione's level when it came to schooling, but  _jeez_.

"So light a fire!" Harry choked out before coughing, trying to get air into his lungs. I was being pulled tightly and my eyes watered as my lungs tried to seize anything it could. My head was pulsing – the blood rushing.

"Yes, of course, but there's no wood!" Hermione winced.

" **HAVE YOU GONE MAD?!** " Ron yelled. " **ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT**?!"

"Oh, right!" the Muggle-born exclaimed before pulling out her wand. She muttered an incantation, and flames sparked out of it. I winced when one hit my hand, but thankfully, my high resistance to heat saved me. At once, I could feel the plant loosening around me and I flailed free from its tight grip.

"Lucky you pay attention in Herbology, Hermione," Harry complimented as he walked over to her. He wiped the bead of sweat that rolled down the side of his face before being joined by Ron and me.

"Yeah," Ron nodded in agreement. "And lucky Harry doesn't lose his head in a crisis: 'there's no wood,'" he scoffed. " _Honestly_."

The brunette blushed in embarrassment before we followed Harry, who had spotted a stone passageway. It was the only trail we could find, so we had no choice but to follow it.

I was incredibly tense, but the echoing of the water dripping kept me at bay, for the most part. It was soothing to know that there was a nice amount of water to use should I ever need it.

"Wait!" Ron called out, breaking the silence. "Can you hear something?"

We stopped, trying our best to hear what it was. It sounded like a cloak in the air or better yet…  _fluttering_. "It sounds like something's fluttering," I voiced my thoughts out loud.

All four of us cautiously moved in on the source, and then I brought up my hand to shield the bright light of the chamber we stumbled upon. It was a large, high-arced room with small, bright birds that fluttered throughout the room.

"Do you think they'll attack us if we cross the room?" Ron inquired.

"Probably," Harry replied bluntly. "They don't look very vicious, but I suppose if they all swooped down at once… well, there's no other choice. I'll run."

I watched as Harry cautiously took step after step across the room. My eyebrows furrowed when I realized the birds weren't attacking. This was really weird. He got to the other side easily, and gave us the signal. We followed Harry's steps, and once again, the birds didn't attack us.

When we tried pulling at the door, it wouldn't budge at all. I frowned, glancing at the birds that were flying around aimlessly. It was then I noticed something that made me squint. "Wait," I said, catching the attention of the other three.

"What is it?" Hermione asked.

"Don't those birds look a bit weird to you, even if they  _are_  magical birds?" I asked Hermione and Harry, who knew what I was talking about.

"They're not birds!" Harry exclaimed in realization. "They're  _keys_! Winged keys! Look!" I squinted even harder. Maybe I needed glasses.  _Oh_ , there they are! "And there are broomsticks! We've got to catch the key to the door!"

"But there are  _hundreds_  of them!" Ron protested.

"We're looking for a big, old-fashioned one – probably silver, like the handle," Harry said, looking at the door before us. Well, from what I could see, most of the keys were gold.

"I'm not flying," I protested. Even if we were hundreds of feet below the ground, I didn't want to risk it. Zeus didn't get along with my father, and while he might not outright kill me, I was damn lucky to even survive my flying lessons… which all ended up with me crashing into something or another. I had the visits to the hospital wing to prove it.

The other three agreed I would be more of a hazard than of help, so I stood on the ground as I watched them move. It didn't take them long to spot it, with Harry's quick, insightful eyes. Ron almost crashed into the ceiling getting the key, and Harry and Hermione looped around to trap it.

Harry slammed it against the stone and I whooped loudly, catching the key that Harry threw in my direction. The three got off their brooms and I shoved the wiggling key inside the key hole, twisting it. There was a loud click and the key flew off, stumbling slightly.

"Ready?" Harry asked, looking at all of us. I nodded quietly, along with Ron and Hermione, and Harry pulled the door open.

I felt a powerful warmth surge through me as the next chamber was just as equally large, but less filled. My eyes darted around, looking for something. I couldn't stand still and it was making me nervous.

"Stop bouncing," Hermione scolded me.

"I can't help it," I protested. "Something doesn't feel right." My eyes landed on the door opposite of us, and my eyes moved up to the ceiling.

There were large nests perched on the sides where the walls protruded, but other than that, there was nothing else. Harry took a step forward and I shifted my feet. It was then I paused.

A small rustle. My eyes shot up to one of the nests.

"Look out!" I shouted, before darting forward. I tackled Harry to the ground just as a feathers, each as sharp as an arrow, pierced the ground Harry once walked on. I pulled out my wand, shooting it towards the nest. " _Aguamenti_!"

There was a loud squawk, followed by multiple others as a barrage of birds, each the size of pigeons, came flying out of the nests.

I recognized them immediately.

"Get out of here, now!" I ordered, pushing Ron and Hermione.

"What are they?!" Ron asked, just as I deflected another barrage of feathers with a quick water spell. I had to get them out of here so I could kill the birds… before they killed us.

"They're Stymphalian birds," I informed the three, urging them to move. "Go on without me. I'll take care of them."

"How do we stop them?" Harry asked, struggling against my shoving. "We can help!"

"You have to kill them," I answered, dodging a set of poop. The ground melted under the poisonous dung and I grimaced. "I swear, I can handle them. Go. Stop him before he gets to the Stone."

That seemed to snap Harry out of his confusion and he looked at me. "Be careful," he advised.

I gave a small smile and threw open the door, shoving them unceremoniously through it. As soon as I slammed the door shut, I whirled around, pulling out Tempest in the process. I sliced through the multiple feathers that were launched towards me and inwardly thanked Aristo and Rhea for training me so well.

I launched Tempest with a powerful force, and it pierced through two birds, who screeched out in pain before falling to the ground. Darting around, I took advantage of the water I had left on the ground and flicked my wrist, protecting myself from the feathers as I moved underneath the birds.

One bold one suddenly swept in, taking me by surprise. I stumbled slightly and dropped to the ground as it flew over my body, and I winced, feeling it leave a dropping on me. It burned my flesh and I cried out in pain, cradling my left arm as it ate away at my flesh.

I summoned some water and pushed it out of my system, trying to get it to stop corroding my skin. When the pain stopped, the wound was still bleeding, and I had a feeling I had lost a chunk of my flesh. That was going to be a bitch to heal later.

I grabbed Tempest from the ground and wished I had a bow and arrow at my convenience. It was then I realized something… something that Aristo and Rhea had taught me. There was very little water to work around, so I was going to have to create more.

Pain shot through my arm as I gathered the moisture around me. I winced slightly at how heavy it was, and it most likely had to do with the fact that I was moving to avoid the birds' feathers and poop-bombs and that part of my arm was gone. I exhaled deeply and felt the weight of the water around me start to form.

I molded it before me, letting it take the shape of a decently-sized bow. Working a bit harder, I summoned three arrows with the water, making them form between my fingers. I took aim, and launched.

The arrows soared through the air, heading right towards the flocking birds. Multiple squawks flew out sharply, and I watched as seven birds fell to the ground, dead. I let out a heavy sigh and dropped my arms, the water falling to the ground, wetting the floor and mixing with the red blood of the nine dead birds.

From my count, there were still at least twenty more, and summoning all this water to protect me was getting quite exhausting. There was absolutely no water source except the one I created and it was quite taxing on my body. I would have to learn to summon them a lot easier in stone chambers.

I grabbed Tempest from the ground, the weapon easily drying as I did so. I swiped up, cutting a bird cleanly in half. The blood splashed on my cheek and I wiped it away before maneuvering out of a bird's path. I was more prepared this time, but then winced.

Reaching behind me, I let out a wince as I pulled out a sharp feather from my shoulder. These birds were good with teamwork, too, it seemed. I took down four more in a swift move. They were getting bolder and bolder, thus getting closer and closer to me.

I switched hands to hold Tempest in my left, summoning a ball of water with my dominant hand. My right hand rose in the air as the pinkish liquid rose into the air. I threw launched it, letting it keep its shape and I controlled my wrist as I maneuvered it through the air, letting it chase the birds.

I could feel the sweat pouring down my head and my muscles crying out in pain as I pushed through, forcing the large ball of water to engulf first three… then five… and then eight birds. All of them struggled, trying to find air, but found none, and they soon drowned.

I didn't know how many were left, but I moved through, taking Tempest with me. There were only a few left now, and once I could take them all, I could catch up to the others.

I winced when two feathers slipped through my defense, cutting at my robes and parts of my skin. The exposed flesh burned angrily as I moved through, taking down three more. I spun around once, catching another one just as the last one dug its beak into my shoulder.

A cry of pain escaped my lips as I dropped Tempest, feeling the bird start to gnaw through my flesh with its Celestial bronze beak. I grabbed it and pulled it out, dropping to my knees in the process. A gaping hole was left where it was. I slammed it to the ground, crushing its head roughly and sighed out as it let out a series of weak squawks.

I pushed down on it harder, feeling its fragile bone give way. Its warm body fell limp and I sighed heavily. I could feel my socks and knees get damp before I collapsed back onto my butt. The dirty water mixed with my clothes as I looked at the door the trio had escaped through.

Feeling light-headed, I realized that I wouldn't be able to go any further. My eyes rolled back to my head as I felt the blood leave my body, and I fell to the ground.

When my head hit the stone floor roughly, all went black.


End file.
